ABSTRACT
The idea was David Garrick’s. The little market town, with a population of about three thousand, invited him to present a statue of Shakespeare and a portrait of himself to adorn their new Town Hall, and with it they offered to make him a freeman of the town. Garrick was excited, honoured and stimulated, and proposed the ‘jubilee’ with himself as steward in response. His suggestion was accepted and preparations were immediately set in train. George Colman the Elder opportunistically made a small comedy out of it, Man and Wife, or The Shakespeare Jubilee which was presented at Covent Garden, though without great success. Much more popular was David Garrick’s own drama, The Jubilee, in which he was able to repeat the most successful parts of the festival, rejigged for the Drury Lane stage, and at last to present the pageant of Shakespearean characters.
