This volume brings together from various sources from the eighteenth century to the present the most interesting criticisms of Shakespeare by English-speaking actors. The introductory chapter suggests the actors' typical contributions to Shakespeare criticism. Each of the four main chapters deals with one of the major tragedies, presenting the actors' ideas about the play itself, and the concluding chapter evaluates the actors' criticisms and points out some relationships between actor-critics and other critics of Shakespeare.
Originally published in 1969.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The richness of Victorian theatre has often been neglected because of the era's most celebrated productions of Shakespeare's plays. Judith L. Fisher and Stephen Watt present a vigorous collection of eighteen essays covering the vast expanse of this "other" theatre, including social dramas, Christmas pantomimes, and adaptations of Gothic novels such as "Guy Mannering" and "Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags."
Reflecting both the longings and values of the public and the theatrical conventions of the times, Victorian productions could capture audiences with the historical verisimilitude of William Charles Macready's production of "Richelieu "or incite a storm of public outrage with the too explicitly fallen woman in Olga Nethersole's interpretation of "Sapho." Playwrights worked at adapting such popular classic works as "The Count of Monte Cristo" or devising new melodramas such as "Rent Day" and "Luke the Labourer." Pandering to the tastes of an expanding middle-class audience, theatre bills reflected popular fascination with the daily newspapers' stories of social maladies. Transposed to the stage, "bad" men and women could be punished for wrongdoings in a way that was unlikely or impossible in real life. Emphasizing the variety of stagecraft in the Victorian age, the contributors to "When They Weren't Doing Shakespeare" present a composite portrait of the vibrant theatrical worlds that existed in both nineteenth-century New York and London.