LETTER:Crowning glory of actor's career

From Mr David Whiting

Sir: The British theatre is all the poorer, with the death of Robert Stephens ("Stage mourns loss of great 'Lear' ", and obituaries/gazette, 14 November).

To see him as King Lear, at Stratford, was a truly moving experience, and one I shall never forget.

His acting had an extraordinary gravity and a certain grandeur; here was a man bringing to bear the weight of his life's experience in a great tragic role, and the sheer power of his delivery in the storm scene was remarkable.

Such was the strength of his presence, that it seemed to be felt even when he was off-stage, a kind of brooding intensity that filled you with anticipation for his return.

It is a happy story that after the wilderness of the Eighties, this actor "came home" so triumphantly in the Nineties, and the British theatre rediscovered one of its greatest actors.

Yours faithfully,

David Whiting

Hampton Lovett,

Worcestershire

13 November