Which presidents liked to see Shakespeare plays at the theater? |
Of all the presidents, John Quincy Adams was probably the one most interested in going to the theater, particularly to see Shakespeare’s plays. Before he became president, Adams often found himself in England or Europe; he accompanied his father, John Adams, to Europe as a young man, and later held several diplomatic posts before becoming secretary of state in 1817. As he subsequently wrote to the actor James Hackett, these travels gave him the opportunity to see many English Shakespeare productions: “There was scarcely an eminent performer at Drury Lane or Covent Garden, for the space of thirty-five years, from 1783 to 1817, but I have seen grapple with the persons of Shakespeare’s drama.”
Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated while attending the comedy Our American Cousin, liked to go to the theater and often went to see Shakespeare on stage, as did many other presidents. Usually a president and his party would watch a play from seats in a special box near the stage.
Helena Modjeska, the Polish American actress, told the story of performing in Romeo and Juliet at a Boston theater before an audience that included Chester A. Arthur. She observed that the presidential box had been lavishly decorated in the customary fashion, but was shocked to see that the box for a candidate for governor, former Union Army General Benjamin Butler, had been prepared in the same way. “Do you have two presidents now?” she asked the theater management.
John Quincy Adams. Library of Congress.