ABSTRACT
Despite constant critical commentary to the contrary, the performance of tragedy flourished in the nineteenth century, and writing about tragedy thrived with it. Some of the most powerful and memorable critical writing about the theatre was in response to the many star performers in the tragic repertoire. The theatre criticism of both Hunt and Hazlitt is a reminder of the influence of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century acting traditions on the development of the English stage in the nineteenth century, in particular the influence of the theatrical ‘dynasty’ of the Kemble family. Forster’s review of Macready’s performance – even before Macready had assaulted Bunn – captures the blending of on-stage and off-stage theatrical and cultural politics. After Macready, Charles Kean was the next actor-manager to attempt to renovate the stage through a tragic repertoire.
