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actor-manager system, method of theatrical production dominant in England and the U.S. in the 19th century, consisting of a permanent company formed by a leading actor who chose his own plays, took a leading role in them, and handled business and financial arrangements. The advantages of this system became apparent in the 18th century when successful actor-managers such as Colley Cibber and David Garrick achieved performance standards superior to those achieved by theatre owners who hired occasional casts for individual plays. In the 19th century great actor-managers such as William Charles Macready, Sir Henry Irving, Madame Vestris, and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree maintained high standards in the face of growing commercialism in the theatre. Shakespeare was an ever- popular staple in their repertoires because it afforded the actor-manager an opportunity for his interpretation of a famous role such as Shylock, lago, or Richard III.
The era of the actor-manager, however, was geared to star performances, and often the actor’s most famous performance was in an inferior dramatic vehicle, such as Sir Henry Irving’s role in the horror play The Bells. The trend toward realism, partly the result of controlled lighting that allowed for the darkening of the auditorium, thus creating an aesthetic distance between actor and audience, led to the decline of personality-dominated plays. The actor- manager was replaced first by the stage manager, who unified the various effects of the performance from the point of view of an onlooker, and later by the more creative director, who imposed his own interpretation on the play.
