Sunday Special: The Shakespeare Riots

The Astor Place Riot, on 10th May 1849, was a pivotal moment in the policing of New York protests, and the day the city’s 19th century culture wars came to a head. The violence began in response to English actor William Charles Macready performing in Macbeth at the Opera House - considered a display of British cultural dominance by supporters of the popular American actor Edwin Forrest. What might otherwise have been an artistic disagreement had become a schism between the educated, Anglophile theatrical elite and the working-class labourers and immigrants who supported Forrest. The unrest quickly escalated. Protesters clashed with authorities, hurling stones and bricks, and attempting to breach the theatre. Soldiers first fired warning shots, but when the crowd did not disperse, they were ordered to fire directly into it. Between 22 and 30 people were killed, and dozens more injured. In this Sunday Special, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore how the riots exposed sharp class divisions and accelerated the separation of cultural spaces in New York; reveal how even more people could have been injured earlier in the run, thanks to a spot of chair-chucking from the gallery; and explain why freebie theatre tickets played their part in the pandemonium… Further Reading: • ‘The Astor Place Riot: Blood on the Cobblestones’ (The Gotham Center for New York City History, 2024): https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/astorplaceriot-commemorationpart2-zy4la-cerc4-ezwep-hsfs3s-rnyg3-tm6kl-anff2-8hdc3-el4s7-lryac • ‘When 'Macbeth' Shook the World Of Astor Place’ (The New York Times, 1992): https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/12/theater/theater-when-macbeth-shook-the-world-of-astor-place.html • ‘Nigel Cliff, author of "The Shakespeare Riots”’ (Harry Random Center, 2016):, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsR17h3Eaqs #Theatre #NewYork #Protest #Irish Thanks so much for supporting the show! We massively appreciate it. The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Edit producer: Ollie Peart. Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.