11/23/2023 0 Comments Actors folio magazine![]() ![]() In other words, they looked more or less like the Cambridge, Oxford or Arden editions of Shakespeare that are used today in classrooms around the world.Īn authoritative version of Shakespeare’s texts naturally created the expectation that such texts – and only such texts – would be used in theatrical performance. Unlike the four Folio texts that were printed between 16, 18th-century Shakespeare editions commented upon the text, updated spelling and punctuation, explained obscure terms, and attempted to reconcile variant or originally misprinted passages. This idea, which we now take for granted, was partly inspired by the publication of scholarly editions of Shakespeare’s plays, beginning with Nicholas Rowe’s six-volume edition in 1709 and continuing throughout the century, with important editions prepared by Alexander Pope (1725), William Warburton (1747), Samuel Johnson (1765), and Edmond Malone (1790). Our idea of Shakespeare as a singular genius who represents the sum and summit of British culture dates only from the middle of the 18th century, more than 100 years after Shakespeare’s death. There was not yet a belief that Shakespeare’s original words were sacrosanct or that Shakespeare should be treated much differently from his peers – dramatists like Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, whose works were sometimes more popular with Restoration audiences. And when London theatres reopened in 1660 upon the restoration of the British monarchy – Puritans had closed all theatres in 1642, during the Interregnum – plays were radically rewritten for performance: King Lear survived the witches in Macbeth sang and danced Miranda in The Tempest gained a sister. He was a leading English playwright, but not an isolated talent. ![]() When Shakespeare died in 1616, he was far from being the global icon ‘Shakespeare’ that we celebrate today. Professor Richard Schoch explains how David Garrick, an 18th-century actor-manager and playwright, formed the popular attitudes towards Shakespeare that remain to this day.
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