A bloody riot broke loose in New York City, a battle of classes and ethnic groups. Over 20 people lay dead and many more wounded before the National Guard, firing upon the crowd, could quell the violence. The scene was outside the Astor Place theatre on May 10, 1849. The impetus for the bloodshed was a performance of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, a culmination of a fermenting rivalry between English actor William Charles Macready and American actor Edwin Forrest. The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America (Random House, 2007; 312 pp.), is the first book by Nigel Cliff, former theatre and film critic for The London Times.

Cliff weaves an amazing tale of the days when Shakespeare's works belonged to the masses. American pioneers would pass lonely nights on the frontier entertaining each other with recitations of Shakespeare spoken from memory. While the Bard's popularity waned somewhat in his native land, English actors found a ready audience waiting in America and the “star” system of a touring actor working with a local company began. American born Edwin Forrest rose to prominence bringing a new, virile approach to Shakespeare's characters, wrestling with the moral and political questions the American settlers found themselves facing as they struggled to build new communities. When Forrest received mixed reviews in England and political pressures almost brought America and its mother country to war again, frontier Americans and new immigrants alike began to see Forrest as a symbol of the new nation.

Reactions to Forrest hissing a performance of Hamlet by William Charles Macready on an English stage fueled the simmering fires. Finally, the violence of 1849 erupted as Macready took the New York stage for a performance of Macbeth. Vivid imagery, the chance meetings of historical characters, friendships, bitter rivalries, and the riot that led to the separation of Shakespeare's works from the masses combine to tell a fascinating story. Cliff presents a triumphant first work. This is a book for those interested in theatrical history, Shakespeare, early American history and for all who love a good tale.