Siblings Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) and John Philip Kemble (1757-1823)
were the most famous British actors of the late-18th and early-19th
centuries. Through their powerful acting and meticulous
conceptualisation of Shakespeare's characters and their worlds, they
created iconic interpretations of Shakespeare's major roles that live on
in our theatrical and cultural memory. This book examines the actors'
long careers on the London stage, from Siddons's debut in 1782 to
Kemble's retirement in 1817, encompassing Kemble's time as theatre
manager, when he sought to foreground their strengths as Shakespearean
performers in his productions.
Over the course of more than thirty years, Siddons and Kemble appeared
opposite one another in many Shakespeare plays, including King John,
Henry VIII, Coriolanus and Macbeth. The actors had to negotiate
two major Shakespeare scandals: the staging of Vortigern - a fake
Shakespearean play - in 1796 and the Old Price Riots of 1809, during
which the audience challenged Siddons's and Kemble's perceived attempts
to control Shakespeare.
Fiona Ritchie examines the siblings' careers, focusing on their
collaborations, as well as placing Siddons's and Kemble's Shakespeare
performances in the context of contemporary 18th- and 19th-century
drama. The volume not only offers a detailed consideration of London
theatre, but also explores the importance of provincial performance to
the actors, notably in the case of Hamlet - a role in which both
appeared across Britain and in Ireland.
