Today in Theatrical History: May 1st

Joseph Addison born May the 1st 1672.

Joseph Addison was born in 1672 to Lancelot Addison a dean at Lichfield. Joseph went to several schools growing up but ended up attending Oxford, first at Queens College before becoming a fellow at Magdalen College. Addison is probably best known for starting the famous 18th and 19th century newspaper 'The Spectator' (not to be confused with the current paper of the same name) alongside his great friend Richard Steele with whom he had previously collaborated on Tatler magazine.

Addison only wrote three theatrical pieces which are:

Rosamond: An Opera (1707) which apparently bombed at the theatre, he did only write the libretto.

Cato: A Tragedy (1713) which was a complete triumph

The Drummer: A comedy (1716)

Addison eventually became an MP, first in a Rotten borough then made his way to Secretary of State, and was still an MP at the time of his death at the age of 48.

Charles Macklin was born in 1690, or 1699 dependant on who you ask, in Ireland. He was a great actor acclaimed for his performance as Shylock in 'The Merchant of Venice' but it was his revolutionary views on acting that still resonates in the theatre world today. Macklin is arguably the Father of realistic acting in the UK, he worked on the idea that simply reciting the lines was not enough and that although the actors of the English stage had mastered how to say the words they had not grasped the concept of performing them or making them seem spontaneous. So Macklin would break down his students and  teach teach them spontenaity. This idea of breaking a student down and building them back up again is something that has permeated through to todays training and some of the exercises he advocated over 200 years ago are still used today to loosen up would be performers to allow them to be more naturalistic.

Macklin had a long career on the stage and for his time in history an incredibly long life, by his own guess he was born in 1699 which made him 97 years of age when he passed away, although some say he was born in 1690 and therefore was over 107 when he died. This seems improbable now but his memorial does state his age at death as 107.

Macklin still commands respect all around the world, not least in his home town of Culdaff where each year the 'Charles Macklin Autumn School' is run in October as a festival to celebrate his life and influence on the Arts in Ireland.

For more information on Charles Macklin please follow this link here. Or to read a biography of his please follow this link here.