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Re-playing Macbeth: A view of eighteenth-century acting

ABSTRACT This article is a critical report on a live reconstruction, depicting the acting styles of James Quin and David Garrick, as seen through the role of Macbeth. Evidence for performance reconstruction is drawn from contemporary evaluations and reviews of the actors' general styles, approaches to Macbeth, when known, and particular moments in their respective performances. The input of critics, biographers and fellow actors is valued for its usefulness in identifying a reading, a move, an inflection or a gesture, detached from any accompanying judgement call, whether appreciative or disparaging. Each picture is a composite one based on comments from various stages of their careers. The acting texts, in their different ways, are employed to add elements of authenticity to each performance. These specifics, however, would produce only a very spare and disjointed representation of even a very limited excerpt. The whole is knit together by the application of the Theory of the Passions to the inferred emotional progression of each selected passage. That actors looked to the passions to aid their understanding and presentation of character is beyond doubt; how they did so is left to speculation. From the reconstructionist's point of view, the value of the passions lies in the way writers on the subject allocate typical gesture, facial expression and vocal tone to the operation of each passion (or emotion) they describe. The resultant speculative performances, based around a few brief excerpts from Macbeth, are transcribed in the form of a detailed prompt copy.