ABSTRACT
From the 1840s until the eventual creation of England’s endowed national theatre more than a century later, the national theatre debate raged, abated, and resurfaced, driven by many of the same objectives that had brought Shakespeare to the attention of Victorian magazine readers. Issues of accessibility, education, and enculturation, which continued to shape the ways in which Shakespeare was presented to a popular audience throughout the century, also influenced the national theatre debate. Conflicting visions of what a national theatre could and should achieve frequently arose as a result of proponents’ differing views regarding Shakespeare’s importance to the proposed theatre as well as their differing awareness of the functions that a popular Shakespeare had come to serve for the prospective constituents of the national theatre’s audience. The connection between Shakespeare, the periodicals, and the national theatre debate is no less significant for being the product of circumstances and strategic alliances rather than an inevitability.
