Charles Macklin
Charles Macklin was a prominent Irish actor and playwright whose career spanned much of the eighteenth century, primarily in Ireland and England. Born in either 1690 or 1699, he anglicized his name and worked diligently to adopt a London accent, which facilitated his rise in the theatrical world. Macklin is best known for his role as Shylock in Shakespeare's *The Merchant of Venice*, where his nuanced performance helped shift the perception of the character from a mere villain to a more sympathetic figure.
Alongside fellow actor David Garrick, Macklin was a key proponent of a more realistic acting style, moving away from the exaggerated performances that characterized earlier theater. While his primary focus was on acting and managing theaters, he also wrote several plays, starting with *Love à la Mode* in 1759, which offered a satirical look at various ethnic groups. His subsequent plays, including *The Married Libertine* and *The True-Born Irishman*, showcased his ability to blend humor with social commentary.
Macklin's last and most successful play, *The Man of the World*, was a revised version of an earlier work that highlighted themes of greed and self-interest. His personal life included a marriage to Ann Grace Purvor, with whom he had a daughter, both of whom pursued careers in theater. Macklin's legacy in the performing arts continued until his retirement in 1789, and he passed away in 1797, leaving behind a significant impact on the evolution of acting and playwriting in his era.
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Charles Macklin
Actor
- Born: September 26, 1690
- Birthplace: Near Culdaff, County Donegal, Ireland
- Died: July 11, 1797
Biography
Charles Macklin pursued a career in the theater that spanned most of the eighteenth century and two countries, Ireland and England. He was born in Ireland in either 1690 or in the spring of 1699, the son of Alice O’Flanagan and William McLoughlin. He later anglicized his name to Macklin and took pains to rid himself of his Irish accent for the sake of his acting career in London, although he also acted in Dublin-based productions.
Macklin is chiefly remembered as an actor. Along with David Garrick, he became prominent as both an actor and theater manager in eighteenth century London. They both championed a subtler, more realistic style of acting based on observing real people’s behavior. In this, they were at odds with the more declamatory style that dominated the first half of the century. Macklin’s portrayal of Shylock in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was a landmark in the development of this more natural acting style, eliciting the audience’s empathy for a character they had previously seen as a laughable, scheming villain.
Although his major efforts went into acting, managing, and the training of new actors, Macklin also wrote plays with varying degrees of success. He did not attempt to write a play until well into his theatrical career when he wrote an afterpiece, a short entertainment presented after a play. His first full-length play, Love à la Mode, was first produced 1759; he probably began writing this play during the previous two years in Dublin, when he worked at the Crow Street Theatre. Love à la Mode satirizes four ethnic groups: Irish, Jewish, Scottish, and English. Four young gentlemen, each representing one of the four groups, compete for the hand of a young woman until they discover she has lost the wealth that made her attractive to them. While three of the men no longer pursue her, the love of the Irishman, Calligan O’Bralligan, grows in recognition of her inherent worth and sad misfortune. Macklin played the role of the Scotsman, Sir Archy Macsarcasm, with great success and was one of the reasons why the play fared so well, first in London and then in Dublin.
Two plays followed in quick succession. The first play, produced in 1761, was The Married Libertine, originally titled The School for Husbands, in which the philandering husband is taught a lesson by a series of his wife’s clever tricks. The second play, The True-Born Irishman, was produced at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin in 1762. It is a satire on the Irish propensity to admire and emulate the English. Ironically, it was highly successful in Dublin and a failure in London, where it appeared in 1767 under the title The Irish Fine Lady.
Macklin’s last play was also his most successful. It began life as The True-Born Scotsman, produced at the Crow Street Theatre in 1764. Much later Macklin enlarged it into a five-act comedy and retitled it The Man of the World for its production at the Covent Garden Theatre in London in 1781. While the premise is the familiar one of an old, self-centered, and greedy man standing in the way of love’s happiness for his son and his beloved, the characterization and deft twists of plot make it an engaging piece. Macklin himself played the role of the old curmudgeon, Sir Pertinax Macsycophant.
Macklin lived with, and eventually married, Ann Grace Purvor, with whom he had a daughter, Maria. Both mother and daughter had careers on stage. Ann Macklin died when she was only forty-eight years old. Macklin married again several years later and had a son, John, who led a wayward life. Macklin’s career as playwright was brief: all of his plays were written between 1759 and 1764, with the exception The Man of the World, which was a revised version of an earlier play. However, Macklin’s acting career carried over seven decades, from 1717 to 1789. He died in 1797, eight years after retiring from the stage.