William Charles Macready

William Charles Macready (1793-1873)

Photo Credit: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "W.C. Macready." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1838. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-fad0-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

SHALL WE THREE: A Ghost Light’s Tale, my upcoming YA Historical fiction book, set in the haunted Bowery Theatre in New York City during the tumultuous year of 1849, sent me on a journey, Combing Through Research.

William Charles Macready

Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an actor. I loved the stage! But, although his father was an actor and theatre manager, William Macready disliked the theatre. So when he was sent to Rugby boarding school in Warwickshire, England (the birthplace of Rugby football), Macready embraced the education, hoping it would lead to a more desirable profession than acting. However, when his father could no longer afford to send him to school, Macready reluctantly became an actor. At the age of fifteen, his first appearance was in the role of Romeo at his father’s Birmingham theatre. For the next four years, he portrayed over seventy different roles. Later, he moved on to Covent Garden, where he typically portrayed villains or character roles. By 1820, he was recognized as one of the finest English actors of the time. In 1826, Macready traveled to New York, where he debuted at the Park Theatre in Virginius, then toured the East Coast to mostly favorable reviews.

Back in England, he became the manager of Covent Garden, transforming it into a National Theatre that presented serious, non-commercial plays. Macready considered himself a gentleman, although he was quick to temper. As an actor and manager, he insisted upon theatrical excellence. He was instrumental in changing the way plays were produced by abandoning the past practice of actors learning their lines privately and devising their own staging, often resulting in a disjointed production. Instead, he required long, tedious rehearsals from his company of actors, historically accurate costumes, improved production values, and stellar performances. All of this set the standard for future acting companies.

His performance of Macbeth at the Astor Place Opera House on May 7th and 10th in 1849 came at a time when Nationalism was taking hold in America. Macready’s presence as an English actor was unwelcome to many, especially the working class. At the first performance, supporters of American acting rival Edwin Forrest attended and protested Macready’s performance. On the second night, protestors inside the theatre were arrested, causing a riot outside. The militia was called in and fired on the crowd. Twenty-one people were killed, and countless others were wounded, mostly innocent bystanders.

Macready’s farewell performance of Macbeth was at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1851.

Photo Credit: Mr. Macready as Macbeth [in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.]

London, England: Published by M. & B. Skelt, [between 1840 and 1850]

Folger Shakespeare Library Call #: Art File M174.4 no. 22 copy 1. Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Sources:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. "William Charles Macready". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Charles-Macready.

Cliff, Nigel. The Shakespeare Riots. New York: Random House, 2007.

Stempel, Larry. Showtime: a history of the Broadway musical theatre. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.