Featuring the Bard: Frederick Warde’s Shakespeare and the Transformation of American Cinema

Abstract

At the Ritz in the London suburb of Swindon, some time in the late 1980s, the Friday performance of Richard III is about to take place. So familiar is the audience with the weekly Shakespeare special that the performers are usually announced half an hour before the curtain and plucked from a public that is also called upon to interact with the actors and to swarm onto the stage to create a suitable melée for the climactic battle scene. “When is the winter of our discon- tent?” demand the spectators in unison, as their Richard enters. Ralph Swanavon replies with Shakespeare’s opening line and a cruel smile.¹