Shakespeare · Soliloquies & Solo Speeches
Production Notes
Edgar, dispossessed and hunted, has disguised himself as Poor Tom — a wandering bedlamite — and stumbles onto the storm-drenched heath where King Lear himself has been driven to the edge of madness. This speech is a performance within a performance: Edgar playing a character in extremis while himself in extremis.
The speech is prose, not verse, and deliberately fragmented. It rewards Players who can commit to physical expression — the speech describes a body that has been through fire, flood, and persecution. What Poor Tom’s body has endured should be visible.
Script
EDGAR
Who gives anything to Poor Tom, whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame, through ford and whirlpool, o’er bog and quagmire; that hath laid knives under his pillow and halters in his pew, set ratsbane by his porridge, made him proud of heart to ride on a bay trotting horse over four-inched bridges to course his own shadow for a traitor? Bless thy five wits! Tom’s a-cold. O, do de, do de, do de. Bless thee from whirlwinds, star-blasting, and taking! Do Poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes. There could I have him now, and there — and there again — and there.
Facilitator Notes
Warm-up: Explore the body in discomfort — cold, wet, shaking — without performing it. Ask Players to find physical specificity first, then let the text follow.
Debrief prompts:
- Edgar is performing madness while experiencing genuine danger and grief. Where in the speech does Edgar-the-actor seem to break through Poor Tom-the-role?
- The repetition of “and there — and there again — and there” — what is happening in that moment? What does Tom seem to be tracking?
- This speech is begging. How does that change a Player’s relationship to their audience?
- “Tom’s a-cold” — three words in the middle of a long performance. What do those words do?