The "Great Guest" Arrives

On 20 September 1776, Ackermann company under direction of Friedrich Ludwig Schr6der gave first performance of Hamlet in Hamburg. Further performances followed on 23 and 24 September, after which Hamburger AdressComptoir-Nachrichten reported on unusually unanimous response of public. At three successive performances of Hamlet in Hamburg numerous audience in playhouse was so attentive, so transported, that it seemed as if there were only one person present, only one pair of eyes, only one pair of hands, because stillness was so universal, silence so numbed, [there was] wonder, weeping, and applause.1 Public enthusiasm did not abate. For remainder of year, Ackermann company gave Hamlet on average once every five playing days for a total of ten performances, and in 1777 they gave play over fifteen times. While Hamlet maintained its popularity in Hamburg, it was quickly taken up by almost every standing theatre and troupe of wandering players, so that by end of decade whole of German-speaking Europe can be described as having been gripped by a veritable Hamlet-fever. Where in Germany is a troupe of actors ... that has not performed Hamlet? wrote critic and dramaturg Johann Friedrich Schink in 1781. Royal cities and tiny market-towns, splendid halls and wooden booths echo with his name, and men and boys, virtuosi and reading teachers, First Heroes and letter-carriers, struggle over him and flaunt their immortality.2 Ten years before, for actors and audiences alike, Shakespeare had been little more than a name. Suddenly, the great

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