The article revisits an embarrassing early stage incident recounted by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a 2011 interview. During a performance of *King Lear* when he was about 22, his trousers tore in a fight scene, exposing him to the audience and prompting laughter.

Hoffman said he was playing Edgar and had worn no underwear because the character was due to appear naked later in the production. Although the mishap could have been distressing, he described it as a relatively light-hearted memory compared with more serious on-stage failures, such as feeling he had performed badly.