ABSTRACT
Garrick amazed a salon full of intellectuals in Paris in 1764, and stimulated Denis Diderot to consider ‘the paradox of acting’. Macklin asked the actress Peg Woffington to help Garrick with the part of Farquhar’s Sir Harry Wildair, and before long the two had moved into Macklin’s house as co-students and lovers. Garrick was unusual for his time in that he was as much a master of comedy as of tragedy. Garrick, though he enjoyed being centre stage, also spent much energy coaching, teaching and directing his company. Garrick’s first leading lady was the singer and actress, Susanna Cibber, whose ‘sensibility and sweetness of voice’ Tobias Smollett praised. Garrick’s best stage partner was probably Hannah Pritchard, though she was several inches taller than him, and grew very stout in her later years. Garrick was a small man, with penetrating eyes, but elegant and graceful. He tried to counter his lack of height by wearing shoes with the heels built up.
