Two actors performing two different versions of Macbeth in the same town.

Fans are so passionate that at one performance, there's a riot and nearly 30 people are killed.

You hear a story like that, and you can't help thinking,

I'm sorry, there has to be more to it.

Music I'm sorry. There has to be more to it. From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.

I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folgers director.

The story I just teased is surprisingly little known, even to people immersed in the world of Shakespeare.

May 10th is the anniversary of the Aster Place Riot, the night in 1849 when fans of American actor Edwin Forrest

rioted inside and outside New York's Aster Place Opera House during a performance by Forrest's rival,

the British actor William Charles McCready. And whether or not you've heard the story before,

it's one we could all know a lot better. Because, as you'll hear, many aspects of it continue

to reverberate today.

We brought together two experts on elements of 19th century American theater that have

a direct bearing on the riot to talk about it.

Carl Kippola's academic research focuses primarily on the performance of masculinity on

the 19th century American stage.

Heather Nathens has written about early American theater as well as the way immigrants

and African Americans were depicted on the stage.

Carl is an associate professor in the Department of Performing Arts at American University

in Washington, and Heather is chair of the Department of Drama and Dance at Tufts University.

We call this podcast, His Headstrong Riot Hath No Curb.

Heather and Carl are interviewed by Barbara Bogave.

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