ABSTRACT
At London’s Drury Lane theatre in February 1741, Charles Macklin, for the first time in over fifty years, performed the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice as Shakespeare wrote it. Ignoring the warnings of his colleagues that he would booed off the stage, Macklin electrified audiences with his psychologically based interpretation of the role. His performance marked the beginning of a new era in the theatre, which rejected the sonorous acting style of the previous age, personified by the veteran actor James Quin, who had dominated the London stage for over a decade. Eight months after Macklin’s performance as Shylock, the young David Garrick made his London debut as Shakespeare’s Richard III and became London’s most acclaimed actor overnight.
