Cliff, Nigel

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Cliff, Nigel

PERSONAL:

Education: Attended Oxford University.

CAREER:

Times, London, England, former theater and film critic; freelance writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Beddington Prize for English literature, Oxford University.

WRITINGS:

The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America, Random House (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to the Economist.

SIDELIGHTS:

A former theater critic for the London Times, Nigel Cliff published his first book-length work, The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America, in 2007. It is a social, political, and historical study of New York's Astor Opera House riots of 1849. Cliff's tale follows the fortunes of the preeminent British Shakespearean actor of his day, William Charles Macready, and his rivalry with his American counterpart, Edwin Forrest, who was over a dozen years younger than the English actor. No love was lost between the two, and when Macready arrived for an American tour in the spring of 1849, Forrest staged the same productions as Macready did in an attempt to focus on the different interpretations of Shakespeare. Cliff also points out that this was a time when U.S. and British relations were strained by a border dispute in the Northwest, as well as by unkind remarks about the nascent American culture by such famous travelers as Charles Dickens. Thus, the scene was well set in May of 1849 for some form of demonstration. When Macready took the stage, he was greeted by taunts and jeers that quickly developed into a riot. New York's National Guard was called out and twenty-six people were killed in the ensuing violence. As Dan Cryer noted in the Boston Globe, this was ‘the largest loss of civilian life due to military action since the American Revolution."

The Shakespeare Riots received a positive critical reception. Jerome Weeks, writing in Book/daddy, felt that Cliff ‘takes a footnote in stage history and makes it a firecracker of a story, a rousing and illuminating study of the last time Americans, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, went to the theater together and fought a pitched battle over who would control public culture in this country.’ Similarly, Cryer found the book ‘delightful and instructive,’ further praising the author's ‘spirited narrative and insightful analysis.’ Booklist contributor Jay Freeman considered The Shakespeare Riots ‘an enjoyable but unsettling mixture of farce and tragedy,’ while a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded that it is a ‘first-rate social and theatrical history combined with a dash of Shakespearian critical appreciation: a noteworthy story."