Shakespeare and the Eighteenth-Century Actress

Authors

Fiona Ritchie McGill University

Abstract

David Garrick is frequently credited with revolutionizing the acting profession and the presentation of Shakespeare through his appearance in Shakespearean roles in the eighteenth century. But the actresses who performed alongside him were also hugely influential in pioneering a new conception of Shakespeare on the stage. Performers such as Catherine Clive and Hannah Pritchard were celebrated for their acting talent in works such as Charles Churchill's The Rosciad (1761) and Thomas Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies (1784). This paper will trace the history of women's performance of Shakespeare in the eighteenth century and will focus on the accounts of Clive's and Pritchard's acting. I suggest that performing Shakespeare helped actresses to be taken seriously as artists for the first time, allowing them to be admired and respected for their skill in their profession rather than to be treated primarily as "ornaments to the stage," as they were in the Restoration.

Author Biography

Fiona Ritchie, McGill University

Fiona Ritchie is Assistant Professor in the English Department at McGill University, Montreal. She completed her Ph.D. thesis, entitled "'The Merciful Construction of Good Women': Women's Responses to Shakespeare in the Long Eighteenth Century," at King's College, University of London in 2006. Her article "Elizabeth Montagu: 'Shakespear's Poor Little Critick'?" appeared in Shakespeare Survey 58 (2005). She was a member of the British Shakespeare Association steering committee from 2002 to 2005. Fiona has also worked as Deputy Curator of Dr. Johnson's House in London, where she co-curated an exhibition on "Johnson and the Theatre."