David Garrick, 1717–1779: A Theatrical Life exhibition material

This article offers a descriptive list of items included in the David Garrick, 1717-1779: A Theatrical Life exhibition.

This online exhibition showcases some of the Folger’s extraordinary wealth of Garrick-related printed texts, manuscripts, images, and objects in order to tell the story of his “theatrical life” both in the sense of David Garrick’s contributions to modern drama, and the drama that was his real life.

The Man

Garrick’s personal qualities have been much praised (“The chastity of Mr. Garrick…and his exemplary life as a man have been a great service to the morals of a dissipated age,” wrote Sir John Fielding), but he had his quarrels and his behavior was not without flashes of professional jealousy. His sense of humor still comes across in his letters, and he took ribbing about his modest height in stride. Plagued by ill-health much of the time, he neverthless enjoyed life to the fullest.

The Actor

“Mr. Garrick is but of a middling Stature, yet, being well proportion’d, and having a peculiar Happiness in his Address and Action, is a living instance, that it is not essential to a Theatrical Hero, to be six Foot high.” So wrote an admirer early in Garrick’s career. Praise for his vocal and physical abilities on the stage only grew over the years.

The Entrepreneur

Not surprisingly, Garrick's talents and ambition drew him quickly towards theater management, where he could shape the entire spectacle. He cut his teeth as co-manager of Smock Alley in Dublin for the 1745-46 season, with Thomas Sheridan. Garrick then returned to London where he put in motion a plan to become co-manager of James Lacy's Drury Lane by playing the 1746–47 season for Lacy's rival, John Rich, at Covent Garden. Garrick's continued success under Rich had the desired effect, and he was able to strike a deal with Lacy for joint management of Drury Lane. He purchased a half-share of the patent for—and agreed to receive—£500 per year as co-owner, and £525 per year plus a benefit as a principal actor. Lacy took responsibility for everything relating to the building, while Garrick took responsibility for everything relating to productions.

The Playwright and Adapter

Garrick’s activity as a writer and adapter of plays was an essential part of his working life, perhaps because England’s greatest actor-manager flourished in an age of eminently forgettable dramas. Aside from a few works by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of The Rivals and School for Scandal, and Oliver Goldsmith, author of She Stoops to Conquer, there is little from the era of Garrick that survives in today’s repertory.

Throughout his career Garrick revived Shakespeare’s plays, in the process making careful use of the work of such contemporary editors and scholars as Samuel Johnson, Bishop William Warburton, Edward Capell, George Steevens, and others. But his reshaping of the plays also helped Garrick reshape Shakespeare’s image by personalizing and popularizing the characters. As a result, many pieces panned by critics and scholars were supported enthusiastically by the public. Garrick produced twenty-six Shakespeare plays, in the process performing seventeen roles himself.

Garrick's Legacy

Garrick’s legacy is by no means limited to his innovations on the stage. Garrick fueled the Shakespeare movement that turned a great English dramatist into the great English dramatist. He was the first theater manager to master the craft of public relations (and self-promotion). Drury Lane reached its zenith under Garrick. There was nothing like it until Sir Henry Irving’s reign at the Lyceum a century later.