Charles Macklin and the Theatres of London

This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the life and career of Charles Macklin (1699?-1797), one of the most important figures in the history of Covent Garden and Drury Lane. The chapters discuss Macklin's acting performances, dramatic writings, comedy, legal activities, theatre management, commercial ventures, and his consequent presence in the print and visual culture of the period. The authors examine Macklin's many activities through the seven decades of his London career through the prism of his Irish ethnicity, arguing that his sociability and multi-faceted activities offer a model of performative Enlightenment that had an understated yet sustained impact on Georgian London.