Shakespeare and Manchester: A Victorian Powerhouse

Both a theatrical and a cultural history, it examines the makers of an urban, libertarian, Mancunian Shakespeare using hitherto unexplored primary sources, principally a rich trove of digitised newspapers. It contextualises Manchester’s engagement with Shakespeare’s works in the light of Victorian cultural, social, political and economic trends. Manchester developed a distinctive Shakespearean culture that reshaped the city’s theatrical and civic identity during the Victorian era. Although it hosted fewer performances than Birmingham, its engagement with Shakespeare generated ideas and innovations that reached far beyond the local stage. The book traces how seven figures collaborated to forge an urban, libertarian, and resolutely Mancunian Shakespeare. Drawing on newly examined primary sources, especially digitised newspapers, it reconstructs the networks and ambitions that made Manchester a Shakespearean centre. John Knowles refined theatre design and management; George Dawson used Shakespeare to articulate his Civic Gospel; and Charles Calvert’s ambitious revivals achieved both domestic and international acclaim. Manchester also offered Henry Irving the training and opportunities that shaped him into the leading tragedian of his age, while Irving and Alfred Darbyshire devised the influential Irving–Darbyshire Safety Plan. Bishop James Fraser’s decision to preach in a theatre challenged longstanding church–theatre divisions, and Rosa Grindon expanded educational access for women while becoming a major Shakespearean scholar. The book closes by assessing the lasting legacy of Mancunian Shakespeare. This engagingly written book provides the first comprehensive explanation of Manchester’s innovative and enduring contributions to the development of Shakespearean theatre in the nineteenth century. Beyond repairing this gap in theatre history, it documents Manchester’s collective adoption of Shakespeare’s works as a means of providing moral guidance to the world’s first industrial city and of achieving political change through non-violent means.This account of Manchester’s reciprocal engagement with Shakespeare, situated within Victorian cultural, social, political and economic trends, is told through the careers of seven people – John Knowles, George Dawson, Charles Calvert, Henry Irving, Alfred Darbyshire, Bishop James Fraser and Rosa Grindon. Both a theatrical and a cultural history, it examines the makers of an urban, libertarian, Mancunian Shakespeare using hitherto unexplored primary sources, principally a rich trove of digitised newspapers.

Pagina's: 304, Hardcover, Manchester University Press