The year is 1849 and in New York City a new star is taking back the American stage from the European Actor/Managers who run the American Theatre. The new star was Edwin Forrest who had dragged himself up from a poor background in Philadelphia to tour internationally as an actor of great note. He had the great luck to be carving out a niche for himself with the support of many American writers who promoted him as superior to all the British stars treading the USA's boards. At the time of the riots Forrest was friends with William Macready who was touring the USA with his company in a production of 'Macbeth'. Forrest's friends in the media who were catching the current anti-british zeitgeist started promoting a 'Who is the better actor?' discussion. The columns of American papers were filled with pro-Forrest articles and denigrated Macready which led to public statements being made by each performer against the other. Macready was representing the upper classes of the New York elite who were known to be anglophiles, whereas Forrest was from the gutter. He had begun his New York career at the Bowery Theatre, where the manager was known to try out unknown American playwrights, plays and performers, which fed into the Pro-America sentiments of the day. The two men could not have come from two more different worlds and when the tensions that had been bubbling under the surface came to boiling point a political aspect was truly on show. Macready was engaged to perform as Macbeth at the Astor Place Theatre, a theatre where not all social classes were welcome, so Forrest played Macbeth at the Bowery. It was clear that this was now about the rich versus the poor. After fans and supporters of Forrest crashed a performance at the Astor and heckled Macready off the stage it became obvious something would happen. Macready made ready to leave America but having been convinced to stay and complete his tour by notable New Yorkers, the stage was set. Politicians from Tammany Hall went around on the 10th of May with flyers asking the question 'Shall Americans or English rule this city?' and contained information on where to congregate to protest against the English influence. By the evening of the 10th 10,000 people had congregated in Astor Place, bad feelings were rife, a mob started hurling stones at the Astor Theatre and later when the violence and disruption increased the city militia was called out. They soon stopped firing just into the air and started firing into the crowd. At the end of the riot 25 were dead and over 120 were injured. It remains to this day one of the darkest days in the history of the American Theatre.
