Actors at the Broadway Theatre
(in parentheses, the parts they play)
EDWIN FORREST (Macbeth; Metamora), early forties
MISS JANE BASS (1st Witch), twenties
MISS HELEN BURTON (2nd Witch; Goodenough), twenties
MISS ANNE HOLLAND (3rd Witch; Nahmeokee), twenties
TILTON (Porter; Church), sixties
THOMAS FISHER (Young Siward; Kaneshine), late twenties
FANNY WALLACK (Lady Macbeth); forties
ROBERT JONES (Banquo, Malcolm; Annawandah), early thirties
MR. BLAKELY (Duncan; Errington), fifties
SCOTT (normally plays Macduff, but is injured), thirties
JOHN RYDER (fills in as Macduff), English and the traveling companion of Macready, thirties
Actors at the Astor Place Opera House (in parentheses, the parts they play)
WILLIAM CHARLES MACREADY (Macbeth), English, late fifties
CHARLES CLARK (Macduff), forties
MRS. POPE (Lady Macbeth), thirties
GEORGE BRADSHAW (Banquo), forties
FREDERICK WEMYSS (Siward, Old Man), sixties
JAMES BRIDGES (Young Siward, 3rd Witch, Ross), early twenties
JOHN SEFTON (1st Witch, Donalbain), forties
MR. CHIPPINDALE (2nd Witch), forties
PETER ARNOLD (Malcolm), twenties
Others
CATHERINE FORREST, wife of Edwin, English, thirties
MISS WEMYSS, an aspiring actress, daughter of Frederick Wemyss, late teens
DION BOUCICAULT, playwright and actor, English/Irish, thirties
AGNES ROBERTSON, actress and Boucicault’s wife, late twenties
WASHINGTON IRVING, writer and amateur actor, sixties
OTHER ACTORS AND SERVANTS
SETTING
The play concerns imagined events surrounding the following true incident: on Thursday May 10, 1849, while the English actor William Charles Macready was performing Macbeth at the Astor Place Opera House in New York City, a riot erupted which resulted in the death of thirty-four people and the injury of more than a hundred more.
Each scene has a title—the location of the scene—which should be projected moments before the scene begins.