ABSTRACT
The new acting style introduced by Macklin and Garrick responded to—and in turn stimulated—fundamental changes in English culture and society, which had begun in the previous century. The changes included technological developments and industrial and commercial expansion, leading to the Industrial Revolution and Britain’s emergence as a world power; migration from rural areas to cities, in London and the Midlands; proliferation of daily and weekly newspapers; a political upheaval leading to more democracy and personal freedom than existed in any other European country; and the spread of affluence, providing greater opportunities to engage in leisure activities. About 12,000 London residents and visitors attended its theatres each week. Class resentment, based on extreme inequality of wealth, sporadically exploded in violence throughout the eighteenth century, in the theatres and elsewhere.
