Why Does Marcello Hernández Say Bo Smith Performed King Lear On His Knees?

Marcello Hernández says that in a fundamentals of Shakespearean performance class, his professor Bo Smith, partner of Tom Roche, noticed the students were acting soft. Smith, then in his late 60s, took off his tie and a necklace, got on his knees, and screamed a performance of King Lear. Hernández says it changed the class and everyone started to really perform.