Long a clown, he now eyes 'Lear'

Bill Irwin began as a gifted clown, but he went on to win a Tony Award playing George in a 2005 revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and has appeared in lots of movies, including Rachel Getting Married. This spring, he will star on Broadway with Nathan Lane in Waiting for Godot.

When Irwin, 58, spoke with the St. Petersburg Times from his home in Nyack, N.Y., he was trying to figure out which costumes to pack for his visit to Tampa, where he appears tonight in the University of South Florida's Talk of the Arts series. "What I'm toying with is whether I can switch costumes in quick succession between talking about the baggy-pants tradition of comedy and then going into a scene from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Can one clown into one's 50s? It's such a physical thing.

I seem hesitant to let it go. You have to adjust. I like to think the Waiting for Godot production will be in some ways a hybrid, rarefied clown piece. That's what the script demands, I think.

There isn't much Shakespeare in your bio. Any plans?

I've looked at King Lear for years. But it isn't the Fool anymore that interests me, it's the character of Lear. I'm not sure I'll ever get a crack at it. But it's those big, mythic roles that interest me now.

Does the economic meltdown worry you?

It scares me to death as an Irish-American who's got a trace of apocalyptic fear. But there's a part of me that also thinks it may just result in some interesting theatrical ferment. It may shake things up in a valuable way.

John Fleming can be reached at fleming@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8716.