The Rival Richards, or Sheakspear in Danger

William Shakespeare|Samuel Knight|William Heath ('Paul Pry')|Charles Mayne Young|Edmund Kean

May 18, 1814 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

Two tragic actors Edmund Kean and Charles Mayne Young are here satirized struggling to control Shakespeare. Both are dressed as Richard III to indicate their rivalry on the London stage in that part. Behind Kean at left is the Drury Lane Theatre with Covent Garden at right behind Young. The latter's more declamatory style gave him the edge as the city's leading tragedian until Kean's more natural approach took the public's fancy after his 1807 debut. Heath made this print around the time he turned twenty.

Artist

William Shakespeare|Samuel Knight|William Heath ('Paul Pry')|Charles Mayne Young|Edmund Kean

Date

May 18, 1814

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Georgiana W. Sargent, in memory of John Osborne Sargent, 1924