The Economist USA - 26.10.2019

Sources: London Stage Database; UK Theatre Web *Includes adaptations by other authors

Past and present popularity of plays

Share of Shakespearean performances*, %

Share of theatre events in London*

By author, %

Shakespearean performances by genre*,%

Shakespeare is as pre-eminent in London today as he was 200 years ago, but the city’s favourite plays have changed

0

5

10

15

1660-

1679

1680-

1699

1700-

1719

1720-

1739

1740-

1759

1760-

1779

1780-

1799

2000-

2019

William

Shakespeare

1564-1616

John

Fletcher

0

50

25

75

100

1660-

1679

1680-

1699

1700-

1719

1720-

1739

1740-

1759

1760-

1779

1780-

1799

2000-

2019

Tragedies

Histories

Comedies Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Comedy of Errors

Much Ado About Nothing

Love’s Labour’s Lost

A Midsummer

Night’s Dream

As You Like It

All’s Well That Ends Well

Twelfth Night

The Winter’s Tale

Richard II

Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 2

Henry V

Henry VI, Part 1

Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3

Troilus and Cressida

Titus Andronicus

Hamlet

Antony and Cleopatra

Pericles

Two Noble Kinsmen

The Tempest

TheMerry Wives of Windsor

Measure for Measure

The Merchant of Venice

The Taming of the Shrew

King John

Richard III

Henry VIII

Coriolanus

Romeo and Juliet

Timon of Athens

Julius Caesar

Macbeth

King Lear

Othello

Cymbeline

← More popular then More popular now →

1660-1800 2000-19 1660-1800 2000-19

0

2

4

6

8%

Comedies Histories Tragedies

The EconomistOctober 26th 2019 81

“H

e was notof an age, but for all time,”

wrote Ben Jonson, a peer of William

Shakespeare’s, in the preface to the First

Folio—a collection of the bard’s works pub-

lished in 1623, seven years after he died. To-

day, those words seem prophetic. In Jon-

son’s time, they were mostly just polite.

Shakespeare was popular in his day. His

company drew large crowds at the Globe

Theatre in London, and sometimes per-

formed at court. But other authors of that

era were more acclaimed. Francis Beau-

mont was buried in Poets’ Corner at West-

minster Abbey, near Geoffrey Chaucer. Jon-

son received a royal pension for writing.

When Will died, few would have guessed

that all the world would become his stage.

A newly digitised version of “The Lon-

don Stage”, a record of performances from

1660-1800, tracks Shakespeare’s ascent to

unquestioned supremacy. Mattie Burkert,

the project’s leader, says the data are patchy

from 1660, when theatres reopened after a

Puritan ban, to 1700, when daily newspa-

pers began. Moreover, attributing shows to

authors is tricky in the 17th century, since

most were advertised without naming the

playwright. Nonetheless, of 2,300 events

recorded in this period, just 122 (5%) in-

cluded material that might have been by

Shakespeare. The data give more credits to

two newer writers, John Fletcher (with 191)

and John Dryden (137). Courtiers returning

from France preferred libertine heroes and

neo-classical styles. Shakespeare’s untu-

tored mingling of fools and kings seemed

odd, so dramatists often rewrote his texts.

Shakespeare’s star began to rise a cen-

tury after his death. Fiona Ritchie, a scholar

who specialises in his 18th-century reputa-

tion, notes a few causes. Some adaptations

of his work, such as a happily ending “King

Lear”, became popular. In the 1730s the

Shakespeare Ladies’ Club, a group of aristo-

cratic women, petitioned theatre owners to

stage his plays rather than foreign operas.

Comedies such as “Twelfth Night” and “As

You Like It”, now featuring female ac-

tresses, came back into fashion.

Even as the appetite for comedies grew,

eminent actors—above all David Garrick—

used sturdier roles, such as Richard III and

Macbeth, to boost their careers. In 1769 Gar-

rick organised a jubilee of Shakespeare’s

birth, to celebrate “the god of our idolatry”.

Shakespeare has held that status ever since.

Harold Bloom, a critic who died on October

14th (see Obituary), called his plays “the

outward limit of human achievement”.

By 1800, 9% of shows in London used

his material—down from a peak of 17%, but

much more than his rivals. Today, London-

ers still lend him their ears. Using listings

from ukTheatre Web, an online archive,

we estimate that the city’s big theatres have

put on 360,000 performances since 2000

(including musicals and operas to mimic

the older data). Of those, Shakespeare ac-

counts for some 19,000, or 5%. Although

this share is similar to that of the 17th cen-

tury, it is far more impressive, since Shake-

speare must now compete with thousands

of writers who had not been born in 1700.

London’s taste for specific plays has

evolved. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”,

once seen as insipid, is now the most per-

formed. But the split among comedies,

tragedies and histories remains similar to

that in 1740-1800. It was the thespians of

that age who prepared him for all time. 7

William Shakespeare’s reputation took

a century to surpass those of his peers

Greatness thrust

upon him

Graphic detailShakespeare