ABSTRACT
Between 1747 and 1776 about 20 per cent of the performances at Drury Lane were Shakespearian, yet of only nine plays: at Covent Garden in the same period the figures are 16 per cent, but of only eight plays. David Garrick was the outstanding Shakespearian actor, producer, and adapter of his generation. Whoever wishes to reconstruct the complete picture of Shakespeare’s presence from the Restoration to Victorian times cannot overlook the adaptations. While some dissentient voices were heard, the Restoration adaptations continued to be performed, and praised. One reason for the remarkable homogeneity of style and feeling in sentimental tragedy from Otway and Tate to Cumberland is that many of the most performed plays throughout the whole of the eighteenth century were, in fact, Restoration tragedies or the Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare. The adapters’ prefaces are important documents, acting at once as explanation, justification, and ingratiation with the audience.
