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The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America
One of the bloodiest incidents in New York’s history, the so-called Astor Place Riot of May 10, 1849, was ignited by a long-simmering grudge match between the two leading Shakespearean actors of the age. Despite its unlikely origins, though, there was nothing remotely quaint about this pivotal moment in history–the unprecedented shooting by American soldiers of dozens of their fellow citizens, leading directly to the arming of American police forces.
The Shakespeare Riots recounts the story of this momentous night, its two larger-than-life protagonists, and the myriad political and cultural currents that fueled the violence. In an engrossing narrative that moves at a breakneck pace from the American frontier to the Mississippi River, to the posh theaters of London, to the hangouts of the most notorious street gangs of the day, Nigel Cliff weaves a spellbinding saga of soaring passions, huge egos, and venal corruption.
Cliff charts the course of this tragedy from its beginnings as a somewhat comical contretemps between Englishman William Charles Macready, the haughty lion of the London stage, and Edwin Forrest, the first great American star and a popular hero to millions. Equally celebrated, and equally self-centered, the two were once friends, then adversaries. Exploiting this rivalry, “nativist” agitators organized mobs of bullyboys to flex their muscle by striking a blow against the foppish Macready and the Old World’s cultural hegemony that he represented.
The moment Macready took the stage in New York, his adversaries sprang into action, first by throwing insults, then rotten eggs, then chairs. When he dared show his face again, an estimated twenty thousand packed the streets around the theater. As cobblestones from outside rained down on the audience, National Guard troops were called in to quell the riot. Finding themselves outmatched, the Guardsmen discharged their weapons at the crowd, with horrific results. When the smoke cleared, as many as thirty people lay dead, with scores more wounded.
The Shakespeare Riots is social and cultural history of the highest order. In this wondrous saga Nigel Cliff immerses readers in the bustle of mid-nineteenth-century New York, re-creating the celebrity demimonde of the day and capturing all the high drama of a violent night that robbed a nation of its innocence.
The Shakespeare Riots recounts the story of this momentous night, its two larger-than-life protagonists, and the myriad political and cultural currents that fueled the violence. In an engrossing narrative that moves at a breakneck pace from the American frontier to the Mississippi River, to the posh theaters of London, to the hangouts of the most notorious street gangs of the day, Nigel Cliff weaves a spellbinding saga of soaring passions, huge egos, and venal corruption.
Cliff charts the course of this tragedy from its beginnings as a somewhat comical contretemps between Englishman William Charles Macready, the haughty lion of the London stage, and Edwin Forrest, the first great American star and a popular hero to millions. Equally celebrated, and equally self-centered, the two were once friends, then adversaries. Exploiting this rivalry, “nativist” agitators organized mobs of bullyboys to flex their muscle by striking a blow against the foppish Macready and the Old World’s cultural hegemony that he represented.
The moment Macready took the stage in New York, his adversaries sprang into action, first by throwing insults, then rotten eggs, then chairs. When he dared show his face again, an estimated twenty thousand packed the streets around the theater. As cobblestones from outside rained down on the audience, National Guard troops were called in to quell the riot. Finding themselves outmatched, the Guardsmen discharged their weapons at the crowd, with horrific results. When the smoke cleared, as many as thirty people lay dead, with scores more wounded.
The Shakespeare Riots is social and cultural history of the highest order. In this wondrous saga Nigel Cliff immerses readers in the bustle of mid-nineteenth-century New York, re-creating the celebrity demimonde of the day and capturing all the high drama of a violent night that robbed a nation of its innocence.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2007
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About the author
Nigel Cliff
14 books33 followersNigel Cliff is a British historian, biographer, critic and translator. He specialists in narrative nonfiction, especially in the fields of cultural history and the history of exploration.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
September 10, 2019
The riot seemed to be the fault of everyone, and no one. It was the fault of Macready's father, for educating his son as a gentleman and going bankrupt. It was the fault of the theatre profession, for instilling vanity and insecurity in its practitioners. It was the fault of English writers, for stomping over American self-esteem. It was the fault of several American states, for causing Americans to be reviled as debt dodgers. It was the fault of journalists, for whipping up partisanship to sell papers. It was the fault of the British government, for its disastrous Irish policy. It was the fault of Jacksonian politics, for pandering to gang leaders. It was the fault of the Upper Ten, for building an opera house in a provocative location. It was the fault of the new mayor, unversed in crowd control. It was the fault of the irresistible flows of capital and population that had carved out a resentful and often violent underclass. And, yes, it was the fault of Forrest, for bullying his way to self-vindication, and of Macready, for defending his respectability to the bitter end.
Well, maybe. Based on the material in this book, my conclusion was that the riot was the fault of some yahoos in New York who decided to destroy the performance, and perhaps the life, of the English actor William Macready. The American actor Edwin Forrest was complicit insofar as he had knowledge of the thugs' plan and did nothing to deter it. As for items like Macready's father "educating his son as a gentleman and going bankrupt" and most of the "faults" that Nigel Cliff notes, they are, at most, remote factors, not proximate causes of the riot.
But it is just such wavering from the main point that makes this book enjoyable. Cliff includes fascinating material about many things, such as the history of acting in America from the early 1800s up to the mid-Nineteenth Century. Much of this is not strictly relevant, but all of it is welcome.
And the material about the ubiquity of love of Shakespeare in America at that time is likewise fascinating. The only reference that I knew about performances of Shakespeare in the American West is the brief glimpse in the excellent John Ford film My Darling Clementine in which an English actor played by Alan Mowbray is mocked by unimpressed cowboys. Cliff mentions that some times frontier "townsfolk knew the plays better than [the actors] themselves and could shout out the prompts to prove it." Mowbray's befuddled actor is unable to finish the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet and a bystander finishes it for him. (The bystander is an educated man named John Holliday, known as "Doc," played by Victor Mature.) Shakespeare was revered not only in Britain but throughout the still-young United States as well. Cliff states:
Altogether Shakespeare accounted for nearly a quarter of the plays performed in America during the nineteenth century, and he was by far the most popular playwright on the frontier.
William Macready was an English actor born in 1793, son of another actor, William McCready, who passionately wished that his son would not become an actor. But young William did turn to the stage for his career. He quickly joined a line of acclaimed British actors: David Garrick, John Kemble, Edmund Kean, Macready, each regarded as the greatest actor of his time. Macready was a star, much loved, successful throughout Britain, in France, and in the United States.
Edwin Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1806. His father was a peddler. Edwin always wanted to act and was playing in Shakespeare at fourteen. Immediately renowned, his style was very different from that of English actors:
Perhaps, Forrest thought, the Bard of Avon could be transformed into something distinctly American: a new Shakespeare, played with a skill that matched the best that England could offer, but with all the fire and energy of the west.
Forrest came to act in Britain. Macready welcomed him and the two became friends. But relations between their two nations were less congenial. Each played in the other's country to some acclaim, but Macready remained a British favorite and Forrest was the most heralded American actor of the time.
On a subsequent sojourn in Britain in 1845, Forrest's performances were less well received; Forrest came to believe that Macready was responsible for this. Then both actors were appearing in plays in Edinburgh. Macready was playing Hamlet, and Forrest attended a performance. Forrest began loudly hissing during the play (which was evidently the equivalent of what now would be booing). This was widely regarded as outrageous rudeness and it caused a permanent rift between the two actors.
In 1849, after a very successful American tour, Macready was to perform in New York City. Working-class and slum folks, both immigrants and "nativists," wanted to support the American actor, Forrest, and so opposed Macready. They planned to disrupt Macready's performance - violently. Forrest was informed. "'Two wrongs do not make a right,' he said with a frown - but, he significantly added, 'Let the people do as they please.'"
The police and the military were alerted. When violence did break out, "Guardsmen discharged their weapons at the crowd, with horrific results. When the smoke cleared, as many as thirty people lay dead, with scores more wounded."
And that was the Astor Place Riot. The shooting of civilians was a scandal, but it was judged in court to have been justified.
The book then goes on to tell what happened to Macready and Forrest and their families subsequently, as well as how Shakespeare became less beloved among a large part of the population of America. (Forrest died in 1872, Macready in 1873.)
As I mentioned above, The Shakespeare Riots includes a lot of material that is not strictly necessary to telling the basic story. There are brief portraits of a great many people. Ned Buntline, one of the organizers of the riot, seems worthy of a book to himself. Cliff has short sketches of three people who get much more detailed treatment in Paul Collins's fine book, Banvard's Folly; these are John Banvard, once the most financially successful American artist; Robert Coates, a wealthy amateur actor from Antigua; and Delia Bacon, a Shakespeare scholar with some eccentric theories.
This is Nigel Cliff's first book and that might account for some awkwardness in the prose. Cliff uses too many terms
with which I (and, I suspect, others) was unfamiliar. Some of his sentences are excessively complicated:
On his return from America, he had found it impossible to secure a London engagement, and he spent several years tramping around the provinces, only stopping in town to order a dress or a new beard or to scribble pages of heavily underlined instructions to the next set of managers, before wedging himself into the corner of another coach swaying in its springs between dingy lodgings run by landladies who sniffed at his profession and drafty dressing rooms whose dank smell he tried to mask with liberal dousings of perfume.
Despite some problems in the writing, this is an appealing tale of a little known piece of history.
Well, maybe. Based on the material in this book, my conclusion was that the riot was the fault of some yahoos in New York who decided to destroy the performance, and perhaps the life, of the English actor William Macready. The American actor Edwin Forrest was complicit insofar as he had knowledge of the thugs' plan and did nothing to deter it. As for items like Macready's father "educating his son as a gentleman and going bankrupt" and most of the "faults" that Nigel Cliff notes, they are, at most, remote factors, not proximate causes of the riot.
But it is just such wavering from the main point that makes this book enjoyable. Cliff includes fascinating material about many things, such as the history of acting in America from the early 1800s up to the mid-Nineteenth Century. Much of this is not strictly relevant, but all of it is welcome.
And the material about the ubiquity of love of Shakespeare in America at that time is likewise fascinating. The only reference that I knew about performances of Shakespeare in the American West is the brief glimpse in the excellent John Ford film My Darling Clementine in which an English actor played by Alan Mowbray is mocked by unimpressed cowboys. Cliff mentions that some times frontier "townsfolk knew the plays better than [the actors] themselves and could shout out the prompts to prove it." Mowbray's befuddled actor is unable to finish the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet and a bystander finishes it for him. (The bystander is an educated man named John Holliday, known as "Doc," played by Victor Mature.) Shakespeare was revered not only in Britain but throughout the still-young United States as well. Cliff states:
Altogether Shakespeare accounted for nearly a quarter of the plays performed in America during the nineteenth century, and he was by far the most popular playwright on the frontier.
William Macready was an English actor born in 1793, son of another actor, William McCready, who passionately wished that his son would not become an actor. But young William did turn to the stage for his career. He quickly joined a line of acclaimed British actors: David Garrick, John Kemble, Edmund Kean, Macready, each regarded as the greatest actor of his time. Macready was a star, much loved, successful throughout Britain, in France, and in the United States.
Edwin Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1806. His father was a peddler. Edwin always wanted to act and was playing in Shakespeare at fourteen. Immediately renowned, his style was very different from that of English actors:
Perhaps, Forrest thought, the Bard of Avon could be transformed into something distinctly American: a new Shakespeare, played with a skill that matched the best that England could offer, but with all the fire and energy of the west.
Forrest came to act in Britain. Macready welcomed him and the two became friends. But relations between their two nations were less congenial. Each played in the other's country to some acclaim, but Macready remained a British favorite and Forrest was the most heralded American actor of the time.
On a subsequent sojourn in Britain in 1845, Forrest's performances were less well received; Forrest came to believe that Macready was responsible for this. Then both actors were appearing in plays in Edinburgh. Macready was playing Hamlet, and Forrest attended a performance. Forrest began loudly hissing during the play (which was evidently the equivalent of what now would be booing). This was widely regarded as outrageous rudeness and it caused a permanent rift between the two actors.
In 1849, after a very successful American tour, Macready was to perform in New York City. Working-class and slum folks, both immigrants and "nativists," wanted to support the American actor, Forrest, and so opposed Macready. They planned to disrupt Macready's performance - violently. Forrest was informed. "'Two wrongs do not make a right,' he said with a frown - but, he significantly added, 'Let the people do as they please.'"
The police and the military were alerted. When violence did break out, "Guardsmen discharged their weapons at the crowd, with horrific results. When the smoke cleared, as many as thirty people lay dead, with scores more wounded."
And that was the Astor Place Riot. The shooting of civilians was a scandal, but it was judged in court to have been justified.
The book then goes on to tell what happened to Macready and Forrest and their families subsequently, as well as how Shakespeare became less beloved among a large part of the population of America. (Forrest died in 1872, Macready in 1873.)
As I mentioned above, The Shakespeare Riots includes a lot of material that is not strictly necessary to telling the basic story. There are brief portraits of a great many people. Ned Buntline, one of the organizers of the riot, seems worthy of a book to himself. Cliff has short sketches of three people who get much more detailed treatment in Paul Collins's fine book, Banvard's Folly; these are John Banvard, once the most financially successful American artist; Robert Coates, a wealthy amateur actor from Antigua; and Delia Bacon, a Shakespeare scholar with some eccentric theories.
This is Nigel Cliff's first book and that might account for some awkwardness in the prose. Cliff uses too many terms
with which I (and, I suspect, others) was unfamiliar. Some of his sentences are excessively complicated:
On his return from America, he had found it impossible to secure a London engagement, and he spent several years tramping around the provinces, only stopping in town to order a dress or a new beard or to scribble pages of heavily underlined instructions to the next set of managers, before wedging himself into the corner of another coach swaying in its springs between dingy lodgings run by landladies who sniffed at his profession and drafty dressing rooms whose dank smell he tried to mask with liberal dousings of perfume.
Despite some problems in the writing, this is an appealing tale of a little known piece of history.
April 17, 2018
I read this book in part so that I could update a single sentence on the Wikipedia entry for the Astor Place Riot.
This is a fascinating book: frontier riverboat theaters, illiterates reciting Shakespeare, the first American star actor, bad behavior on both sides of the pond, Charles "Boz" Dickens, and in general a theater atmosphere that is very different from the stuffy blue-haired affairs we often see today.
I often wondered how different this book would have been if its author had been American. For example, the author wrote:
"Even the Edinburgh Review, never an uncritical friend of America, saw Trollope's obloquy as all but a casus belli for the New World."
I translated this into American:
"The Edinburgh Review never did America no favors, but even they eyeballed Trollope's tell-all and saw them was fightin' words!"
Also, a pas de mouchoir, you might want to know, is some kind of hanky-wavin' two-step how-d'ye-do that no self-respectin' cowpoke would be caught up in 'cept to make his campmates chuckle 'round the fire. And as I figure, Hamlet ain't the sort of young feller to dude it up like that!
If Mr Cliff or his publisher are interested in translating the entire book into American, I should be happy to oblige for a reasonable fee.
This is a fascinating book: frontier riverboat theaters, illiterates reciting Shakespeare, the first American star actor, bad behavior on both sides of the pond, Charles "Boz" Dickens, and in general a theater atmosphere that is very different from the stuffy blue-haired affairs we often see today.
I often wondered how different this book would have been if its author had been American. For example, the author wrote:
"Even the Edinburgh Review, never an uncritical friend of America, saw Trollope's obloquy as all but a casus belli for the New World."
I translated this into American:
"The Edinburgh Review never did America no favors, but even they eyeballed Trollope's tell-all and saw them was fightin' words!"
Also, a pas de mouchoir, you might want to know, is some kind of hanky-wavin' two-step how-d'ye-do that no self-respectin' cowpoke would be caught up in 'cept to make his campmates chuckle 'round the fire. And as I figure, Hamlet ain't the sort of young feller to dude it up like that!
If Mr Cliff or his publisher are interested in translating the entire book into American, I should be happy to oblige for a reasonable fee.
August 14, 2017
An interesting topic, but rather scattered in its approach, and I found myself bored as often as I was interested. The author failed to find a sympathetic person to follow through this history; certainly the two actors around whom the biggest riots happened were not particularly likable. I read this because the title fulfilled a challenge and because I tend to be interested in theatre. However, this book fell short of my expectations.
August 5, 2008
Without NPR I'm nothing. I swear.
There was a discussion of this book with the author one morning, and the idea caught me. With passions still running high after our break from British rule in the late 1700's, two friendly (and illustrious) Shakespearean actors put their friendship aside and fought with each other, publicly and onstage, with such ill consequence that it led to a riot in front of the theater at which one was performing. The personalities were interesting, the circumstance deliciously catty. That morning, I actually put my knitting aside, to hear about this chapter in American theatrical history. By afternoon the book was in my hands. I gulped it down.
A fun, rewarding read.
There was a discussion of this book with the author one morning, and the idea caught me. With passions still running high after our break from British rule in the late 1700's, two friendly (and illustrious) Shakespearean actors put their friendship aside and fought with each other, publicly and onstage, with such ill consequence that it led to a riot in front of the theater at which one was performing. The personalities were interesting, the circumstance deliciously catty. That morning, I actually put my knitting aside, to hear about this chapter in American theatrical history. By afternoon the book was in my hands. I gulped it down.
A fun, rewarding read.
April 27, 2014
Nigel Cliff's The Shakespeare Riots hearkens back with delight to an era when dinner parties lasted for hours and included toasts and speeches, when every poor frontiersman had a copy of King Lear or Macbeth in his log cabin, when traveling drama troupes performed for audiences of loggers and fur trappers and silver prospectors who knew every line as well (or better) than the actors. Being a thespian in those days was only barely a notch above being a gambler or a prostitute, and the occupation was populated with the desperate and the destitute.
Shakespeare was considered the voice of the common man in young America. People in the United States saw in his plays the brave struggle of the underdog against authority. The heroes were strong, honest and brave in the face of a hostile and pretentious world. It resonated perfectly in this brash upstart country.
The relationship between the United States and Great Britain has always been complex and conflicted. Never was this more obvious than in the theaters of the 1840s, where a strangely passionate battle was taking place: a cultural war over who really owned the Bard, and what his work really meant. This peculiar clash finally boiled down to two men: Yankee Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) and Englishman William Macready (1793–1873), whose friendship devolved into a deeply personal rivalry and eventually exploded into a proxy campaign between the working class and the wealthy, the Americans and the British, the common man and the privileged, in the bloody Astor Place Riot that occurred on May 10, 1849 at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, which no longer exists. This entire book leads up to that moment.
After the riot, two great shifts occurred: first, Shakespeare was plucked away from the common man and appropriated by High Culture; it became something that inhabited the realm of English lit classrooms, endlessly analyzed and dissected by teachers. In short, it became boring. It became dull. It became something people had to seek, to discover on their own. It was no longer part of everyone's shared experience. Second, a great pivot in governmental philosophy took place, swinging away from freedom of expression and towards the protection of property. For a long time, periodic street riots were considered a normal part of the "letting-off-steam" social dynamic. After 1849, however, police trained in military-style tactics and equipped with military-style weapons became common in America, ready and able to quell civil unrest.
The Shakespeare Riots is a wonderful exploration of America's strange and dissonant relationship with Shakespeare in particular and the theater in general. It is also a marvelous overview of Nineteenth-Century American culture from an outside perspective.
The book can be neatly summarized by this passage from chapter 12, page 248, which ascribes blame for the violence:
*America was a debtor nation in the 1840s, and some state legislatures had suggested that rather than raise taxes to meet our obligations, we simply ignore them and default. This, as you can imagine, made the U.S. extremely unpopular abroad.
**Which led to mass immigration to the U.S., many of which (as everyone knows) remained in New York.
***I.e., New York City's "Upper Ten Thousand," what we could call today "The 1%."
Oxford-educated, Nigel Cliff is a former film and drama critic who really knows his stuff. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in American history and/or the history of theater.
I do have two quibbles, and I sincerely hope that Mr. Cliff will forgive me. The first is the writing style, which can, at times, frankly, be a bit sludgy. The Shakespeare Riots sometimes reads like a Master's thesis or Doctoral dissertation. The material is fascinating, but the reader must sometimes plow through sentences such as this (from chapter 6, page 120, in which Cliff explains how American authors had trouble getting anything published because they lacked credibility):
My only other complaint (again, a minor one) is that Cliff often (and sometimes slightly) changes the subject in mid-thought and occasionally rambles from the story of one person or event to the story of another person or event and then back again without clear transitions.
In chapter 9, on pages 178-179, for instance, Cliff discusses the life of Catherine "Kate" Forrest, Edwin's wife:
The paragraph then continues at length, but do you see what happened in the third sentence? Cliff changed the subject from Kate Forrest to Fanny Trollope (English novelist 1779–1863). Not that it isn't relevant, but the transition is extremely sudden and unannounced, and unless you are paying very close attention it can be distracting or disorienting.
Aside from those two extremely small complaints, I found The Shakespeare Riots both entertaining and informative. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in drama or history, and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in both.
Shakespeare was considered the voice of the common man in young America. People in the United States saw in his plays the brave struggle of the underdog against authority. The heroes were strong, honest and brave in the face of a hostile and pretentious world. It resonated perfectly in this brash upstart country.
The relationship between the United States and Great Britain has always been complex and conflicted. Never was this more obvious than in the theaters of the 1840s, where a strangely passionate battle was taking place: a cultural war over who really owned the Bard, and what his work really meant. This peculiar clash finally boiled down to two men: Yankee Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) and Englishman William Macready (1793–1873), whose friendship devolved into a deeply personal rivalry and eventually exploded into a proxy campaign between the working class and the wealthy, the Americans and the British, the common man and the privileged, in the bloody Astor Place Riot that occurred on May 10, 1849 at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, which no longer exists. This entire book leads up to that moment.
After the riot, two great shifts occurred: first, Shakespeare was plucked away from the common man and appropriated by High Culture; it became something that inhabited the realm of English lit classrooms, endlessly analyzed and dissected by teachers. In short, it became boring. It became dull. It became something people had to seek, to discover on their own. It was no longer part of everyone's shared experience. Second, a great pivot in governmental philosophy took place, swinging away from freedom of expression and towards the protection of property. For a long time, periodic street riots were considered a normal part of the "letting-off-steam" social dynamic. After 1849, however, police trained in military-style tactics and equipped with military-style weapons became common in America, ready and able to quell civil unrest.
The Shakespeare Riots is a wonderful exploration of America's strange and dissonant relationship with Shakespeare in particular and the theater in general. It is also a marvelous overview of Nineteenth-Century American culture from an outside perspective.
The book can be neatly summarized by this passage from chapter 12, page 248, which ascribes blame for the violence:
It was the fault of Macready's father, for educating his son as a gentleman and going bankrupt. It was the fault of the English writers, for stomping over American self-esteem. It was the fault of several American states, for causing Americans to be reviled as debt-dodgers.* It was the fault of journalists, for whipping up partisanship to sell papers. It was the fault of the British government, for is disastrous Irish policy.** It was the fault of Jacksonian politics, for pandering to gang leaders. It was the fault of the Upper Ten***, for building an opera house in a provocative location. It was the fault of the new mayor, unversed in crowd control. It was the fault of the irresistible flows of capital and population that had carved out a resentful and often violent underclass. And yes, it was the fault of Forrest, for bullying his way to self-vindication, and of Macready, for defending his respectability to the bitter end.
*America was a debtor nation in the 1840s, and some state legislatures had suggested that rather than raise taxes to meet our obligations, we simply ignore them and default. This, as you can imagine, made the U.S. extremely unpopular abroad.
**Which led to mass immigration to the U.S., many of which (as everyone knows) remained in New York.
***I.e., New York City's "Upper Ten Thousand," what we could call today "The 1%."
Oxford-educated, Nigel Cliff is a former film and drama critic who really knows his stuff. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in American history and/or the history of theater.
I do have two quibbles, and I sincerely hope that Mr. Cliff will forgive me. The first is the writing style, which can, at times, frankly, be a bit sludgy. The Shakespeare Riots sometimes reads like a Master's thesis or Doctoral dissertation. The material is fascinating, but the reader must sometimes plow through sentences such as this (from chapter 6, page 120, in which Cliff explains how American authors had trouble getting anything published because they lacked credibility):
Instead, they read English taunts that they had no talent for literature, art, or philosophy, that sitting around drinking mint juleps and chewing tobacco, talking up the glories of independence, and swearing that they were very graceful and agreeable people would not make them scholars any more than gentlemen, and nothing stung more.
My only other complaint (again, a minor one) is that Cliff often (and sometimes slightly) changes the subject in mid-thought and occasionally rambles from the story of one person or event to the story of another person or event and then back again without clear transitions.
In chapter 9, on pages 178-179, for instance, Cliff discusses the life of Catherine "Kate" Forrest, Edwin's wife:
Kate was what was then pejoratively known as a bluestocking or an advanced woman. She was highly intelligent, a progressive thinker, and, in private, a subtle and powerful advocate for women's rights; the sepulchral ideal of middle-class American wifehood must have struck her cold. Fanny Trollope captured the routine with scalpel precision. Trollope's exemplary woman is college educated, marries early, and immediately vanishes into domestic insignificance...
The paragraph then continues at length, but do you see what happened in the third sentence? Cliff changed the subject from Kate Forrest to Fanny Trollope (English novelist 1779–1863). Not that it isn't relevant, but the transition is extremely sudden and unannounced, and unless you are paying very close attention it can be distracting or disorienting.
Aside from those two extremely small complaints, I found The Shakespeare Riots both entertaining and informative. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in drama or history, and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in both.
November 17, 2022
This is an amazing and well-documented tale of a little known chapter in British-American relations, and a time when Shakespeare was popular enough to be recited on the American frontier. The Astor Place Riot in New York City broke out on the evening of May 10, 1849, partially due to competing performances of Macbeth. The conflict had roots not only in the strained relations between the followers of the leading Shakespearean actors of the day, American Edwin Forrest and Englishman William Charles Macready, but also reflected growing class struggles with immigration in the United States, and economic tensions between the U.S and Britain.
April 17, 2022
This. Was. Fascinating. I love reading New York history, Dutch settlement through WWII. But this had never come up before in my readings. I wasn't prepared for the extensive back-story (like, 200 pages; hence 4 stars instead of 5), but ultimately it was worth it.
I was especially surprised by how beloved Shakespeare was among common Americans, even those involved in westward expansion. And how the theater used to be for literally everyone, not just the very rich! Imagine that. It was affordable and interactive and, well, disgusting in a lot of ways. The author asserts that these riots had a huge impact on theater, serving as the hinge that closed the theater door to most but the upper crust.
You don't have to know your Shakespeare to enjoy it. Skim when it bogs down; but keep with it. You'll be glad you did.
I was especially surprised by how beloved Shakespeare was among common Americans, even those involved in westward expansion. And how the theater used to be for literally everyone, not just the very rich! Imagine that. It was affordable and interactive and, well, disgusting in a lot of ways. The author asserts that these riots had a huge impact on theater, serving as the hinge that closed the theater door to most but the upper crust.
You don't have to know your Shakespeare to enjoy it. Skim when it bogs down; but keep with it. You'll be glad you did.
March 10, 2019
Two households of Shakespeare.
Both alike in zealotry.
In young Manhattan do they play their scene.
When ultimately, barely civil players made rarely civil hands unclean.
Here is the true life story of two leading Shakespearean actors in the 1840s, and how their rising trajectories brought them together. First as fast friends and ultimately as a rivalry so bitter that it led to a riot among their supporters that was so impassioned and deadly, that it left hundreds wounded and upwards of thirty people dead in the streets of Manhattan.
Over Shakespeare?
It would seem so. However this was ultimately a contention of class against class, dressed in tragedian costume. At this time, the poorer classes, gangs, and immigrants of the Bowery and Five Points Area (see Scorsese’s film ‘Gangs of New York’) lived in very close proximity to the upper classes. So the tensions were already in the air. The higher classes and Anglophiles preferred the traditional style of Shakespeare presentation of English actor William McCready, while the other group cheered for American born actor Edwin Forrest’s boisterous, unconventional, common-man approach.
The newspapers of the time had much to do with roiling the passions that led to the conflict, and this book helps us understand clearly how theater was experienced at that time. It’s hard to imagine in our well-behaved era, just how we would have been able to put up with the yelling and throwing of all manner of objects (like spoiled vegetables and in one instance, half of a sheep carcass) To the stage, but this book really does a great job of taking us there.
Everybody knew Shakespeare then, all classes, and he was revered in all corners of that gilded, gaslit age. Illiterate cowboys, railroad magnates, poor river barge pilots, frontiersmen, and New York bankers. He was everywhere and for everyone. So, bewilderingly, this one thing that they all had in common became the catalyst for a riot of destruction and death.
Shakespeare could have brought them together if this struggle was truly about Shakespeare.
Alas...
It was really about the divisions of nationalism and the bruising elbows of class against class.
A fantastic read for social scientists, fans of New York history, and lovers of Shakespeare.
Both alike in zealotry.
In young Manhattan do they play their scene.
When ultimately, barely civil players made rarely civil hands unclean.
Here is the true life story of two leading Shakespearean actors in the 1840s, and how their rising trajectories brought them together. First as fast friends and ultimately as a rivalry so bitter that it led to a riot among their supporters that was so impassioned and deadly, that it left hundreds wounded and upwards of thirty people dead in the streets of Manhattan.
Over Shakespeare?
It would seem so. However this was ultimately a contention of class against class, dressed in tragedian costume. At this time, the poorer classes, gangs, and immigrants of the Bowery and Five Points Area (see Scorsese’s film ‘Gangs of New York’) lived in very close proximity to the upper classes. So the tensions were already in the air. The higher classes and Anglophiles preferred the traditional style of Shakespeare presentation of English actor William McCready, while the other group cheered for American born actor Edwin Forrest’s boisterous, unconventional, common-man approach.
The newspapers of the time had much to do with roiling the passions that led to the conflict, and this book helps us understand clearly how theater was experienced at that time. It’s hard to imagine in our well-behaved era, just how we would have been able to put up with the yelling and throwing of all manner of objects (like spoiled vegetables and in one instance, half of a sheep carcass) To the stage, but this book really does a great job of taking us there.
Everybody knew Shakespeare then, all classes, and he was revered in all corners of that gilded, gaslit age. Illiterate cowboys, railroad magnates, poor river barge pilots, frontiersmen, and New York bankers. He was everywhere and for everyone. So, bewilderingly, this one thing that they all had in common became the catalyst for a riot of destruction and death.
Shakespeare could have brought them together if this struggle was truly about Shakespeare.
Alas...
It was really about the divisions of nationalism and the bruising elbows of class against class.
A fantastic read for social scientists, fans of New York history, and lovers of Shakespeare.
July 25, 2010
Mr. Cliff's book, ostensibly about two rival actors in the 1840s, one American and one English, is actually much broader in scope. Starting with the bloody, seminal Astor Place riot of May 10, 1849, he elucidates the state of relations between the two countries, the role theatre in general and Shakespeare in particular played in the contemporary culture, growing class distinctions in America, the westward expansion due to Manifest Destiny, and changing attitudes toward acting as a profession and government control of the London theatre scene, among other things. I appreciated the glimpses into a time period with which I was fairly unfamiliar as well as the short excursions into the history of Shakespeare's plays being performed, Dickens' trip through America and the Five Points gangs of New York.
William Macready and Edwin Forrest were in the right place at the right time (or, considering the loss of life during the riot, the wrong place at the wrong time) to become symbols of diametrically opposed value systems held by diverging groups. The two larger-than-life characters started as mutually admiring friends drawn together by their similar experiences and isolated status, but jealousy eventually took over and destroyed the friendship, allowing their personal falling-out to become the focal point for festering national and local resentments. A tragic story all around, the Astor Place riot was a turning point in American history. Class relations, who attended the theatre and what was considered acceptable behavior by an audience, and the use of police vs. military for riot control were all affected.
Really an interesting time period, but occasionally I found my mind drifting away from the words on the page. Mr. Cliff's style leans heavily towards longer, more convoluted sentences with lots of dependent phrases and big words (I have a more-than-decent vocabulary, and still had to look a few words up) which made it hard to read at times. But still well worth picking up for a close look at this facet of American and British history.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
William Macready and Edwin Forrest were in the right place at the right time (or, considering the loss of life during the riot, the wrong place at the wrong time) to become symbols of diametrically opposed value systems held by diverging groups. The two larger-than-life characters started as mutually admiring friends drawn together by their similar experiences and isolated status, but jealousy eventually took over and destroyed the friendship, allowing their personal falling-out to become the focal point for festering national and local resentments. A tragic story all around, the Astor Place riot was a turning point in American history. Class relations, who attended the theatre and what was considered acceptable behavior by an audience, and the use of police vs. military for riot control were all affected.
Really an interesting time period, but occasionally I found my mind drifting away from the words on the page. Mr. Cliff's style leans heavily towards longer, more convoluted sentences with lots of dependent phrases and big words (I have a more-than-decent vocabulary, and still had to look a few words up) which made it hard to read at times. But still well worth picking up for a close look at this facet of American and British history.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
October 9, 2014
A reference to "cotton trees" makes me mildly skeptical of this book's factual accuracy, but the bits about Shakespeare seem pretty legitimate. Plus, it's a good read, and it made me grudgingly resolve to re-read Mansfield Park in hopes that a better understanding of Restoration-era theater craziness will make me more sympathetic to the protagonist. Bonus points for the background on river boats.
June 20, 2024
To the contemporary mind, it seems incomprehensible that riots should break out over theatrical interpretations of William Shakespeare, but that is precisely what happened in New York City in May, 1849. How this came to be is the subject of Nigel Cliff's estimable volume. The author clearly demonstrates that more lay behind the disorder at the Astor Place Opera House: ethnic and economic strains were likewise involved. Front and center in the book are the two famed Shakespearean actors of their time, Englishman William Charles Macready and the American Edwin Forrest, their respective lives, their view of their art, their careers on the stage, and their cordial friendship curdling into bitter rivalry, even enmity. As backdrop, the reader is treated to, among other things, a brief outline of theatrical life in the western frontiers of the United States, how Shakespeare was viewed from his own time until the mid-19th century, the effect rampant immigration (mostly from Ireland) had on the city of New York, and the tension between England and the United States culturally and economically (there was debt owed to Britain that stretched back to the aftermath of the American Revolution, and creditors were getting restless). Macready's farewell tour of America in 1849 became simultaneously flashpoint and lightning rod for these strains and stresses. At one point, author Cliff comments that "Macready had pulled off the impossible: he had united Irishmen and nativists, Tammany Hall and the Order of United Americans, the Five Points and the Bowery under one banner." We are also given a quick summation of the surprising effects of the Astor Place riots -- to name just three: the training and arming of police for crowd control and civil insurrection, the widening of the gulf between the richest and the poorest levels of society, and the loss of what might be called the commonality of Shakespeare (as his works moved off the popular stage into the ivies of Academe, read and studied, but not as widely performed or quoted by the average person in the streets). -- I found this book very interesting. That said, it must be admitted that the author's style is a bit dry in places and some of his sentences so convoluted that a second (sometimes a third) reading is necessary to untangle their meaning. Still, I would commend this book to any reader interested in theatrical history or how The Bard was viewed and played in the nineteenth century.
November 18, 2017
One of the bloodiest incidents in New York’s history, the so-called Astor Place Riot of May 10, 1849, was ignited by a long-simmering grudge match between the two leading Shakespearean actors of the age. Despite its unlikely origins, though, there was nothing remotely quaint about this pivotal moment in history–the unprecedented shooting by American soldiers of dozens of their fellow citizens, leading directly to the arming of American police forces.
The Shakespeare Riots recounts the story of this momentous night, its two larger-than-life protagonists, and the myriad political and cultural currents that fueled the violence. In an engrossing narrative that moves at a breakneck pace from the American frontier to the Mississippi River, to the posh theaters of London, to the hangouts of the most notorious street gangs of the day, Nigel Cliff weaves a spellbinding saga of soaring passions, huge egos, and venal corruption.
Cliff charts the course of this tragedy from its beginnings as a somewhat comical contretemps between Englishman William Charles Macready, the haughty lion of the London stage, and Edwin Forrest, the first great American star and a popular hero to millions. Equally celebrated, and equally self-centered, the two were once friends, then adversaries. Exploiting this rivalry, “nativist” agitators organized mobs of bullyboys to flex their muscle by striking a blow against the foppish Macready and the Old World’s cultural hegemony that he represented.
The moment Macready took the stage in New York, his adversaries sprang into action, first by throwing insults, then rotten eggs, then chairs. When he dared show his face again, an estimated twenty thousand packed the streets around the theater. As cobblestones from outside rained down on the audience, National Guard troops were called in to quell the riot. Finding themselves outmatched, the Guardsmen discharged their weapons at the crowd, with horrific results. When the smoke cleared, as many as thirty people lay dead, with scores more wounded.
The Shakespeare Riots is social and cultural history of the highest order. In this wondrous saga Nigel Cliff immerses readers in the bustle of mid-nineteenth-century New York, re-creating the celebrity demimonde of the day and capturing all the high drama of a violent night that robbed a nation of its innocence.
The Shakespeare Riots recounts the story of this momentous night, its two larger-than-life protagonists, and the myriad political and cultural currents that fueled the violence. In an engrossing narrative that moves at a breakneck pace from the American frontier to the Mississippi River, to the posh theaters of London, to the hangouts of the most notorious street gangs of the day, Nigel Cliff weaves a spellbinding saga of soaring passions, huge egos, and venal corruption.
Cliff charts the course of this tragedy from its beginnings as a somewhat comical contretemps between Englishman William Charles Macready, the haughty lion of the London stage, and Edwin Forrest, the first great American star and a popular hero to millions. Equally celebrated, and equally self-centered, the two were once friends, then adversaries. Exploiting this rivalry, “nativist” agitators organized mobs of bullyboys to flex their muscle by striking a blow against the foppish Macready and the Old World’s cultural hegemony that he represented.
The moment Macready took the stage in New York, his adversaries sprang into action, first by throwing insults, then rotten eggs, then chairs. When he dared show his face again, an estimated twenty thousand packed the streets around the theater. As cobblestones from outside rained down on the audience, National Guard troops were called in to quell the riot. Finding themselves outmatched, the Guardsmen discharged their weapons at the crowd, with horrific results. When the smoke cleared, as many as thirty people lay dead, with scores more wounded.
The Shakespeare Riots is social and cultural history of the highest order. In this wondrous saga Nigel Cliff immerses readers in the bustle of mid-nineteenth-century New York, re-creating the celebrity demimonde of the day and capturing all the high drama of a violent night that robbed a nation of its innocence.
April 21, 2018
This is a richly detailed history of the origins of the "culture wars" that took place between England and America in the early to mid 1800's. These so-called "culture wars" took the form of Shakespearean theater: which country performed the best Shakespeare play, who had the best actor, and which country had the most loyal fandom of the Bard. Was it England, from whence the birthplace of Shakespeare could be claimed? Or was it U.S.A., who insisted that the eternal playwright struck a chord in every American's heart, even on the wildest frontier of the West?
Nigel Cliff's first book strives to uncover the most interesting facets of the development of 19th century Shakespearean theater, ranging from England's Covent Garden and Drury Lane, to the eventual migration of the Bard to America's theaters in New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. This was a time when theater was THE form of entertainment, and also a time when socioeconomic forces threatened to force which class of people would be the mainstay of the paying audience.
It is here, where Cliff gives an eye-opening account of the infamous Astor Place Theater riots in New York City on May 10, 1849. This is the first time in American history where the military was called in to disperse, by gunfire, a huge mob of rioters whose origins had a lot more to do with political and social unrest than an emotionally charged competition between the American actor, Edwin Forrest, and the English actor, William Macready.
Although I enjoyed this book thoroughly, I found that it was not cohesive at times, and due to enormous details in subject matter that sometimes made it difficult to stay on task, I would give this a 3 1/2 star rating.
Nigel Cliff's first book strives to uncover the most interesting facets of the development of 19th century Shakespearean theater, ranging from England's Covent Garden and Drury Lane, to the eventual migration of the Bard to America's theaters in New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. This was a time when theater was THE form of entertainment, and also a time when socioeconomic forces threatened to force which class of people would be the mainstay of the paying audience.
It is here, where Cliff gives an eye-opening account of the infamous Astor Place Theater riots in New York City on May 10, 1849. This is the first time in American history where the military was called in to disperse, by gunfire, a huge mob of rioters whose origins had a lot more to do with political and social unrest than an emotionally charged competition between the American actor, Edwin Forrest, and the English actor, William Macready.
Although I enjoyed this book thoroughly, I found that it was not cohesive at times, and due to enormous details in subject matter that sometimes made it difficult to stay on task, I would give this a 3 1/2 star rating.
December 29, 2020
The first thing to know is that 19th century America loved themselves some Shakespeare. If there were any books at all in the household, you could count on the King James and the Complete Shakespeare. Any touring theatrical troupe, no matter how sketchy, could make bank by sallying forth into the wilderness and performing Shakespeare at any fishing camp, logging camp, or two building town.
Not only were they fierce to watch it, many who were barely literate could could recite scene after scene off the top of their heads. The tragedies were the special favorites, and a few of the histories. Bear in mind that Shakespeare's star was somewhat fading in Britain, so why anything but in America?
I think the key was that in hard-scrabble emerging America there was not much in the way of entertainment that required objects, but they had their voices. These Americans loved to speechify. Political debates were full-throated all day affairs (Lincoln-Douglas anyone?) with a rapt audience. And what better than to wrap your tongue around Shakespeare's thundering phrases and passionate dialog?
And so with that, this is the account of the Great Shakespeare Riot of 1849, where the Whig fans of the leading British actor, Macready, faced off against the pride of the b'hoys (mostly Irish Tammany democrats) the American equivalent, Forrest. Over 3000 participants, nearly 30 deaths, and major destruction to New York's Astor Place later, it became the first time American troops fired on American citizens. Alas, not the last. Hard to imagine King Lear inspiring that kind of passion these days.
Not only were they fierce to watch it, many who were barely literate could could recite scene after scene off the top of their heads. The tragedies were the special favorites, and a few of the histories. Bear in mind that Shakespeare's star was somewhat fading in Britain, so why anything but in America?
I think the key was that in hard-scrabble emerging America there was not much in the way of entertainment that required objects, but they had their voices. These Americans loved to speechify. Political debates were full-throated all day affairs (Lincoln-Douglas anyone?) with a rapt audience. And what better than to wrap your tongue around Shakespeare's thundering phrases and passionate dialog?
And so with that, this is the account of the Great Shakespeare Riot of 1849, where the Whig fans of the leading British actor, Macready, faced off against the pride of the b'hoys (mostly Irish Tammany democrats) the American equivalent, Forrest. Over 3000 participants, nearly 30 deaths, and major destruction to New York's Astor Place later, it became the first time American troops fired on American citizens. Alas, not the last. Hard to imagine King Lear inspiring that kind of passion these days.
August 12, 2017
Great read for those of us who are artistically inclined, lovers of Shakespeare or simply history buffs. Well written, easy to read. Never dry and certainly not boring. Coming from a musical background with expansive knowlage of music history it was interesting to see how theater and opera were viewed so differently, and to compare how the arts are treated to today in particular in American society. Seeing the roots so to speak of not only art appreciation, but also of social norms in American culture as viewed this the circumstances leading up to these events.
Highly recommend, if only for the engaging way to learn interesting tidbits about US history. Quite a few facts thrown in to this book my IB/AP history textbooks conveniently left out.
Highly recommend, if only for the engaging way to learn interesting tidbits about US history. Quite a few facts thrown in to this book my IB/AP history textbooks conveniently left out.
September 3, 2020
The titular riots, which took place on May 10, 1849 provide only a fraction of the interesting bits of history that Cliff has assembled. The riots take place in New York between supporters of the English actor William Macready, and the American actor, Edwin Forrest. What really makes this book worthwhile is all the background information leading up to the deadly riots, and also the historical context Cliff provides on Shakespearean interpretation going back 200 years or more in both England and the US. 'Riots' is filled with anecdotes sure to delight any Shakespeare fan, such as the footnote about "Romeo" Coates, who was so thrilled with the audience response to his death scene in his namesake role one night that he died all over again.
June 8, 2017
How Shakespeare was perceived in the young American republic, how his plays were performed, how the business of theater worked at the time, the beginnings of American literature, relations with Great Britain post War of 1812, how NYC grew and changed during this time, the impact of mass Irish immigration, the rise of gangs, the growth of class based on wealth. This book covers a lot of interesting history focused on the Shakespeare riots of 1849 in New York City. But for me the author does not bring it all together.
November 22, 2024
It is a very slow start, don’t take those little sections for granted. Let them be your guide for breaking down the chapters. It is very densely written, but once you’re in the groove (much like the poetry of iambic pentameter) it’s a smooth read! I love history and Shakespeare, and this opens the world of 1840s America and England wide open!
February 24, 2018
It’s fascinating history, but I had a hard time staying engaged in the writing.
But it was worth the work to understand the powerful impact that these two actors and the riots had on American society.
But it was worth the work to understand the powerful impact that these two actors and the riots had on American society.
July 28, 2022
I started this book in 2015, and it is a fascinating vignette in American history.
In the 1840s, fans of Shakespeare and related actors in America broke into two camps: those for William Charles Macready, the established British favorite, and those favoring the new American star, Edwin Forrest. Their paths crossed both in England and the US for several years, often performing the same play in the same town on the same date (not an accident). For a while, they became friends, until someone hissed, and then they weren't. Their competition reached critical mass in early May of 1849.
Unfortunately for theater goers, the venue became the nexus for three great contests.
1) US-British relations were at a low ebb. American nerves were still raw from the War of 1812, when the Brits burned the US capitol, and also exacerbated by Fanny Trollope and Dickens comparing Americans to uncouth animals. Brits were annoyed by American states repudiating their debt to the Bank of England. And of course, the press on both sides poured coal on the fire.
2) NYC politics was engaged in a bitter no-holds barred struggle between the Whigs and the Jacksonian Democrats, who controlled the very corrupt Tammany Hall. The Dems in NYC profited from a period of extreme nativism, fueled by large numbers of Irish immigrants. The local nativist leader, Ned Buntline, bought blocks of theater tickets for Irish gang members, called b'hoys, to pelt the British actor in his opening performance at the Astor Place theater in New York City, and the battle was on. On the 2nd day of performance, Whig Mayor Caleb Woodhull responded by calling out troops from three regiments, including hussars, cavalry and some light cannon, who were met by an angry crowd exceeding 10,000.
3) In this period, theaters were a truly democratic venue, where the upper and lower classes met, providing the perfect fuel for class and political confrontation. The b'hoys were intent on humiliating Macready, if not running him out of town, or worse.
The book begins with the opening day of the so-called Shakespeare Riots, and ends with the 2nd day, when bullets and stones fly, and people die. In between, the author traces the early development of the rich American tradition of of acting troupes who traveled by boat along the Mississippi River, ending in New Orleans. He traces them further, as the US eventually developed its first star, Edwin Forrest. We follow him to England, where we learn of Garrick, Kemble, and Dean, the Shakespearean actors who preceded Macready. In England, Forrest and Macready begin their friendly competition, while trying to survive as theater houses there compete, go bankrupt, and then rebuild. Then, the famous hiss starts the competition between them, which follows them back to the US. We follow their families through triumph and tragedy. (Seven of Macready's children preceded him to the grave.)
The author Nigel Cliff, was awarded a Doctor of Letters from Oxford in 2022. He has been a film critic, and much more. (Google to see.) The book goes into detail about styles of acting, theater design and management, and all things theatrical. And, he dovetails this knowledge with witty and prescient comments about the theaters place as it relates to larger human, technological, economic and political trends.
Fascinating and worthwhile book.
In the 1840s, fans of Shakespeare and related actors in America broke into two camps: those for William Charles Macready, the established British favorite, and those favoring the new American star, Edwin Forrest. Their paths crossed both in England and the US for several years, often performing the same play in the same town on the same date (not an accident). For a while, they became friends, until someone hissed, and then they weren't. Their competition reached critical mass in early May of 1849.
Unfortunately for theater goers, the venue became the nexus for three great contests.
1) US-British relations were at a low ebb. American nerves were still raw from the War of 1812, when the Brits burned the US capitol, and also exacerbated by Fanny Trollope and Dickens comparing Americans to uncouth animals. Brits were annoyed by American states repudiating their debt to the Bank of England. And of course, the press on both sides poured coal on the fire.
2) NYC politics was engaged in a bitter no-holds barred struggle between the Whigs and the Jacksonian Democrats, who controlled the very corrupt Tammany Hall. The Dems in NYC profited from a period of extreme nativism, fueled by large numbers of Irish immigrants. The local nativist leader, Ned Buntline, bought blocks of theater tickets for Irish gang members, called b'hoys, to pelt the British actor in his opening performance at the Astor Place theater in New York City, and the battle was on. On the 2nd day of performance, Whig Mayor Caleb Woodhull responded by calling out troops from three regiments, including hussars, cavalry and some light cannon, who were met by an angry crowd exceeding 10,000.
3) In this period, theaters were a truly democratic venue, where the upper and lower classes met, providing the perfect fuel for class and political confrontation. The b'hoys were intent on humiliating Macready, if not running him out of town, or worse.
The book begins with the opening day of the so-called Shakespeare Riots, and ends with the 2nd day, when bullets and stones fly, and people die. In between, the author traces the early development of the rich American tradition of of acting troupes who traveled by boat along the Mississippi River, ending in New Orleans. He traces them further, as the US eventually developed its first star, Edwin Forrest. We follow him to England, where we learn of Garrick, Kemble, and Dean, the Shakespearean actors who preceded Macready. In England, Forrest and Macready begin their friendly competition, while trying to survive as theater houses there compete, go bankrupt, and then rebuild. Then, the famous hiss starts the competition between them, which follows them back to the US. We follow their families through triumph and tragedy. (Seven of Macready's children preceded him to the grave.)
The author Nigel Cliff, was awarded a Doctor of Letters from Oxford in 2022. He has been a film critic, and much more. (Google to see.) The book goes into detail about styles of acting, theater design and management, and all things theatrical. And, he dovetails this knowledge with witty and prescient comments about the theaters place as it relates to larger human, technological, economic and political trends.
Fascinating and worthwhile book.
February 25, 2017
Interesting tale of an episode in history I was completely unaware. Reminded me how those of us who live mostly in our heads get very worried when large groups of people give over to pathos (emotion) only.
September 18, 2012
Ostensibly about the 1849 riots in New York between fans of two star actors, one American and one British, the book is actually much broader in scope. In addition to theater-related matters such as the nature of the theater at that time in both countries and the popularity of Shakespeare with the masses (especially in America, and particularly in the pioneer west), the author goes into great detail about social conditions in both countries, politics, and anti-American travel literature by British writers.
Cliff has a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the U.S. than most British writers (I'm talking about today, but this applies to the 1840s, too!) and can see his own country in perspective as well. He points out that during this period the English were in the process of turning from one of the rowdiest, rudest, least mannered people in Europe to one of the primmest. Appreciation of Shakespeare was actually much greater in America, where rough-and-tumble men of the frontier felt that the Bard expressed their deepest feelings. They could recite long passages from the plays and even correct actors when they slipped up.
Still, the book feels padded. I don't know whether Cliff realized only after he began writing that the riots and the rivalry between Edwin Forrest and William Macready that gave birth to them wouldn't fill a book, or whether he started out with a sweeping vision, but much of the book has little to do with the incident of the title. Some of it is interesting, but I felt impatient to get back to the main story.
Footnote: in the final chapter, when he talks about the later lives of the two principals and the aftermath of their rivalry, he fails to mention what may be Forrest's most enduring legacy: a baby born in 1834 was named for him--Edwin Booth, the greatest actor of the 19th century.
Cliff has a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the U.S. than most British writers (I'm talking about today, but this applies to the 1840s, too!) and can see his own country in perspective as well. He points out that during this period the English were in the process of turning from one of the rowdiest, rudest, least mannered people in Europe to one of the primmest. Appreciation of Shakespeare was actually much greater in America, where rough-and-tumble men of the frontier felt that the Bard expressed their deepest feelings. They could recite long passages from the plays and even correct actors when they slipped up.
Still, the book feels padded. I don't know whether Cliff realized only after he began writing that the riots and the rivalry between Edwin Forrest and William Macready that gave birth to them wouldn't fill a book, or whether he started out with a sweeping vision, but much of the book has little to do with the incident of the title. Some of it is interesting, but I felt impatient to get back to the main story.
Footnote: in the final chapter, when he talks about the later lives of the two principals and the aftermath of their rivalry, he fails to mention what may be Forrest's most enduring legacy: a baby born in 1834 was named for him--Edwin Booth, the greatest actor of the 19th century.
February 19, 2017
Published in 2007, yet remarkably timely. The key word that's not in the subtitle is "nativism."
February 27, 2013
In something of a backward approach to finding a book to read I tracked this book down on WorldCat following the discovery of an uncataloged item in my library collection about the Astor Place riots (see another version on the Internet Archive site: http://archive.org/details/accountter...) and was lucky enough to find it for sale at a local used book store. The theatre riot in New York was an event that I had not heard of before and author Nigel Cliff’s history of The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America proved to be an excellent introduction. Cliff does a wonderful job introducing the characters and the role that Shakespeare played in American society in the early national period. As a theatre critic by trade the author had a good ear for the performances and the stage world but he also did a fine job in the concluding chapters as he brings the events of the Astor Place riots around to the larger impact on social order, criminal justice and the creation of American political parties. Many familiar, and some not so familiar, New Yorkers and world figures play a role in this story including Charles Dickens, Charles P. Daly, Ned Buntline and of course the principles: Englishman William Charles Macready and American thespian and b’hoy leader (of sorts) Edwin Forrest. With a good sense for the absurdity that underlay the feud that lead to the riot Cliff has provided a readable and informative history.
April 21, 2015
Riots on the streets of New York City over Shakespeare? People dying over feuding actors? Yep. It happened in 1849. This was a time of high tensions between Britain and the U.S. It was also a time when Shakespeare wasn’t high culture – he was just culture, the common patrimony of the English-speaking peoples. Everyone read him, kids learned to declaim in school by memorizing and reciting his soliloquys, and everyone went to see his plays. Manual laborers would shout prompts to the actors on stage when they forgot their lines. Actors built barges to serve as stages for plays on the wild banks of the Mississippi. In this atmosphere, the rivalry between two actors, William Macready (British) and Edwin Forrest (American), was a ready opportunity for expressing strong political passions. Add in the opening of a new theater in New York City exclusively for the elite and the recruitment of street gangs by political operatives and you have a recipe for a riot. This book tells this remarkable story very well. Cliff brings the world of the time alive on both sides of the Atlantic, so that the final crazy results of this mess are actually understandable. I recommend this for people that like American and British history and Shakespeare.
November 7, 2015
Moving between decadent London, the Mississppi frontier and New York gang hideouts, Cliff brings to life the hero worship of the first American star Edwin Forrest. All muscles and fire, Forrest promised to rid America of England's cultural hold on its old colony - amazingly, decades after independence the entire entertainment business was still a British affair. He soon became enmeshed in a first comic but increasingly bitter feud with his arch rival, Englishman William Macready. At first friends, the two chased each other around America and England, and such was the celebrity of star actors that they came to stand in for their countries. It all ended with America's first class war, between an elite that supported the refined Macready and nativists who hated the old world and everything it stood for. It seems extraordinary that Shakespeare was at the heart of all this - but clearly he was: a figure so omnipresent figure in the young republic that towns, mountains, mines, even drugs were named after him and America was determined to adopt him, thinking that his heart would have lain here rather than with degenerate England.
January 26, 2015
An unexpectedly wonderful book.
In the first half of the 19th century the United States was searching for a unique cultural identity. The connection with the Old World of Europe, and especially England, had never been fully broken, especially among the wealthy elites. On the other, the frontier spirit, fully legitimized by Andrew Jackson's presidency, brought with it a rougher, more robust, less polished culture. Surprising, both cultures - the traditional and the new - shared a reverence for Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare Riots is the story of how this cultural clash eventually focused on the rivalry between two actors: Charles William Mcready, the darling of the English stage, and Edwin Forrest, the American force of nature. The traditional Upper 10 elite sided with Mcready, and the working class New York gangs (the b'hoys) lined up with Forrest.
Over time tensions built up, culminating in a huge riot when the b'hoys disrupted a Mcready performance at the Astor Theatre in New York. It was one of the deadliest riots in US history.
In the first half of the 19th century the United States was searching for a unique cultural identity. The connection with the Old World of Europe, and especially England, had never been fully broken, especially among the wealthy elites. On the other, the frontier spirit, fully legitimized by Andrew Jackson's presidency, brought with it a rougher, more robust, less polished culture. Surprising, both cultures - the traditional and the new - shared a reverence for Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare Riots is the story of how this cultural clash eventually focused on the rivalry between two actors: Charles William Mcready, the darling of the English stage, and Edwin Forrest, the American force of nature. The traditional Upper 10 elite sided with Mcready, and the working class New York gangs (the b'hoys) lined up with Forrest.
Over time tensions built up, culminating in a huge riot when the b'hoys disrupted a Mcready performance at the Astor Theatre in New York. It was one of the deadliest riots in US history.
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March 26, 2011This is an amazing and well-documented tale of a little known chapter in British-American relations, and a time when Shakespeare was popular enough to be recited on the American frontier. The Astor Place Riot in New York City broke out on the evening of May 10, 1849, partially due to competing performances of Macbeth. The conflict had roots not only in the strained relations between the followers of the leading Shakespearean actors of the day, American Edwin Forrest and Englishman William Charles Macready, but also reflected growing class struggles with immigration in the United States, and economic tensions between the U.S and Britain.
August 21, 2008
I found the book a little hard to read, but this book covers a period of time and a portion of society I knew nothing about. With the current demands on your time of the Internet, iPods, TV, Movies, etc, it is interesting to read about a time when going to plays was commonplace for people and actors could lead to an all out riot. From today's current elitizing of Shakespeare and academic forcitude of school, I never realized just how much of an impact Shakespeare had on all of society.
December 1, 2011
I'm loving this so far. I had no knowledge of these events until I picked up this book. I've always had a fascination with 1830s-40s New York (Five Points, Tammany Hall, etc) as well as the relationship between England and the US, so this is well-suited for me. Enjoying learning about the varied insults and neuroses that go with the turf of being a Shakespearean actor who is alternately reviled and revered. Fascinating!
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