William Davenant's operatic Macbeth 1664
Contents
- Introduction
- An operatic Macbeth
- Biographical
- References
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Sir William Davenant’s 1664 adaptation of Macbeth transformed Shakespeare's dark tragedy into a lavish, music-filled Restoration spectacle. He heavily altered the text, expanded the role of the singing witches, cut several minor characters, and featured movable scenery, making it a major theatrical hit. (Poltrack 2018)
1. Introduction
During July 2026 the present writer encountered at his local library an elderly woman having difficulty in seeking to obtain a digital copy of an operatic script based on a Shakespeare play and presented in London during 1664. Having viewed a published copy some decades earlier at the library of the Australian National University, Canberra, she informed the librarian that that copy had subsequently been destroyed in a flood. Remote access to the script in the National Library of Australia was now the goal. It is unclear whether either librarian or inquirer were aware of the 1961 Yale University Press publication by Christopher Spencer which compared a manuscript version of the Davenant script held in the Yale University Library collection with Shakespeare's original play, noting some significant changes (Spencer 1961). These changes which were of particular interest to the woman. As a result, the present writer, who as an archivist had worked in research support within an academic library for some three decades, now sought to address the problem. His findings are presented herein.
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2. An operatic Macbeth
On 5 November 1664 English playwright, poet and actor William Davenant (born Oxford, 3 March 1606 - died London, 7 April 1668), godson and possible illegitimate son of William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), presented at the Dukes Theatre, London, an operatic adaptation of the latter's Macbeth. This famous play had most likely first been performed in 1606 as a private royal performance for King James at Hampton Court Palace. The first recorded public performance took place in April 1611 at London's outdoor Globe Theatre. Davenant's script was subsequently printed in 1674 and republished a number of times over the following decade due to the popularity of the play. As to the original production, the following comment was noted by John Downes in 1708, confirming Davenant's role in its creation and production (Summers 1927):
The Tragedy of Macbeth, alter'd by Sir William Davenant; being drest in all it's Finery, as new Cloath's, new Scenes, Machines as flyings for the Witches; with all the Singing and Dancing in it: THE first Compos'd by Mr Lock, the other by Mr. Channell and Mr. Joseph Preist; it being all Excellently perform'd, being in the nature of an Opera, it Recompenc'd double the Expence; it proves still a lasting Play.
Note, That this Tragedy, King Lear and the Tempest, were Acted in Lincolns-Inn-Fields; Lear, being Acted exactly as Mr. Shakespeare Wrote it; as likewise the Tempest alter'd by Sir William Davenant and Mr. Dryden, before 'twas made into an Opera.
From this account we can see that the following individuals were involved in the presentation of this operatic version of Macbeth, with specific tasks noted apart from Davenant's role as director of the production company:
- William Davenant - operatic script construction and adaptation
- Mr Lock - song composer
- Mr Channell - music composer
- Mr Joseph Preist - music composer
- Mr Dryden - operatic script construction and adaptation
On 12 December 1660 Davenant and his company, which operated out of Lincoln's Inn Fields, had been tasked with preparing nine Shakespeare plays for performance, including Macbeth. Apart from the 5 November 1664 performance, it is known to have eventually been presented at least seven times before Davenant's death in 1668. For example, Samuel Pepys noted the following attendances in his Diary, which has famously been republished over the years (Pepys 1895):
* 5 November 1664: With my wife to the Duke's house to a play, Macbeth, a pretty good play, but admirably acted.
* 28 December 1666: To the Duke's house, and there saw Macbeth most excellently acted, and most excellently played for variety.
* 7 January 1667: To the Duke’s house, and saw “Macbeth,” which, though I saw it lately, yet appears a most excellent play in all respects, but especially in divertissement, though it be a deep tragedy; which is a strange perfection in a tragedy, it being most proper here, and suitable.
* 19 April 1667: Here we saw "Macbeth", which though I have seen it often, yet it is one of the best plays for a stage, and variety of dancing and musique, that ever I saw.
More recently, the Yale College Arts website noted the following in regards to a staged reading of Davenant's Macbeth on 3 April 2017:
Sir William Davenant adapted Shakespeare’s play for a Restoration audience. His alterations included edits to Shakespeare’s language for ease of comprehension, a greatly expanded role for Lady Macduff, a clearer stance on regicide (this was an important point to clarify after the English Civil War!), several new songs and dances, and even a “flying machine” for the witches.
The Yale University manuscript of Davenant's script in the Beinecke Library is dated circa 1664. Eight printed texts were subsequently issued between 1674 and 1710. For those interested in the fine detail of differences between Shakespeare's original text and the Davenant variants, Spencer (1961) is the recommended text, though it is very dense in its analysis. It also includes a full transcript of the play.
There have in recent years been a number of academic articles and book chapters discussing Davenant's adaptation. For example, Stephen Watkins' chapter on the play in the 2023 Performing Restoration Shakespeare notes the following:
This chapter situates William Davenant’s adaptation of Macbeth (1664) within the broader context of his own play-making career. It traces the connections and discrepancies between Macbeth and the heroic operas and plays Davenant himself wrote and produced during the 1650s and 1660s, and which he theorised in A Proposition for Advancement of Moralitie (1653). Employing literary and performance modes of analysis, it demonstrates how the dramaturgical alterations he made to the play align it with a distinctive Davenantian mode: just like The Siege of Rhodes – recognised by John Dryden as the first extant heroic play in English – Macbeth centres on two opposing married couples; it meditates on how best to reconcile uxorious love with public duty and personal honour; and it puts creative energy into music and spectacle to produce powerful theatrical effects. Previous scholarship has condemned Davenant as a feeble-minded adapter, who rewrote Shakespeare to eliminate the perceived infelicities that would likely offend a discerning Restoration audience: antiquated diction, cumbersome syntax, psychological inconsistency. This chapter instead contends that we have failed to meet Davenant’s text on its own terms, as an example of the heroic genre that dominated the stage during the opening decade of the Restoration.
In regards to the three witches featured in Shakespeare's original play, the following was noted regarding Davenant's insertions:
In a version of Macbeth by William Davenant (1606–1668), a scene was added in which the witches tell Macduff and his wife of their future as well as several lines for the two before Macbeth's entrance in act 4. Most of these lines were taken directly from Thomas Middleton's play The Witch
Shakespeare's Macbeth has continued to resonate with audiences over the decades since 1606, appearing in its original form, adaptations and through printed versions studies in schools and universities, alongside television and film presentations. The present writer recalls as a senior high school student travelling to the Regent Theatre in Sydney around 1972 to see director Roman Polanski's version of Macbeth, famous (or rather, infamous) for its scene of naked witches. It has also been noted that Davenant's version of Macbeth, despite its initial popularity, has been largely ignored as it is considered to have heavily altered Shakespeare's original play, both textually and in its presentation.
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3. Biographical
William Davenant is an intriguing character. His Wikipedia entry reveals a busy and rather exciting life. The chapter on Davenant in the 1853 The Lives of the Poets-Laureate is comprehensive in regards to that aspect of his life (Austin & Ralph 1853). A recent podcast interview with Ralph Goldswain (linked in below) revealed that Davenant was a popular personality in London despite his conflicts with royalty (Goldswain 2026). It also mentioned numerous biographical references. Aspects of Davenant's personal life are somewhat shrouded in mystery as well, including his relationship with Shakespeare -who died when William was just 10 years old - and the great dramatist's legacy; his own skills as a playwright and poet; and whether he was even an actor. Nevertheless, one of his major achievements was the presentation of Shakespeare plays during a period in which such action was officially banned. Presenting Macbeth as an opera was one of the ways to get around that ban.
Ralph Goldswain on William Davenant, That Shakespeare Life, episode 139, 11 January 2026, YouTube, duration: 39.14 minutes.
During his life Davenant was a champion of William Shakespeare. He was also the first owner of the famous Chandos portrait which is believed to be the only one taken from real life. It is also of interest that when sections of the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields where Davenant presented Macbeth from 1664 was being dismantled during the late 1800s, a bust of Shakespeare was found which is very similar to the image in the Chandos portrait.
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| "Davenant" bust of William Shakespeare. |
The following brief biographical account of Davenant comes from the period 1669-1689 and was recorded by a contemporary gossip John Aubrey (1626 - 1697), and later published in his Brief Lives (Aubrey 1898):
Sir William Davenant (1605/6-1668).
Sir William Davenant, knight, Poet Laureate, was borne [about the end of February — vide A. Wood's Antiq. Oxon. — baptized 3 of March A.D. 1605/6], in ... street in the city of Oxford at the Crowne taverne. His father was John Davenant, a vintner there, a very grave and discreet citizen; his mother was a very beautifull woman, and of a very good witt, and of conversation extremely agreable. They had three sons, viz. 1, Robert, 2, William, and 3, Nicholas (an attorney), and two handsome daughters, one married to Gabriel Bridges (B.D., fellow of C. C. Coll., beneficed in the Vale of White Horse), another to Dr. William Sherburne (minister of Pembridge in Hereford, and a canon of that church). Robert was a fellow of St. John's College in Oxon, then preferred to the parsonage of West Kington by bishop Davenant, whose chaplaine he was.
Mr. William Shakespeare was wont to goe into Warwickshire once a yeare, and did commonly in his journey lye at this house in Oxon, where he was exceedingly respected. [I have heard parson Robert Davenant say that Mr. W. Shakespeare haz given him a hundred kisses.] Now Sir William would sometimes, when he was pleasant over a glasse of wine with his most intimate friends — e.g. Sam. Butler (author of Hudibras), &c. — say, that it seemed to him that he writt with the very spirit that Shakespeare, and seemd contented enough to be thought his son. [He would tell them the story as above, in which way his mother had a very light report.]
He went to schoole at Oxon to Mr. Sylvester (Charles Whear, filius Degorii W., was his schoolefellowe), but I feare he was drawne from schoole before he was ripe enough. He was preferred to the first dutches of Richmond to wayte on her as a page. I remember he told me, she sent him to a famous apothecary for some Unicornes-horne, which he was resolved to try with a spider which he incircled in it, but without the expected successe; the spider would goe over, and thorough and thorough, unconcerned.
He was next a servant (as I remember, a page also) to Sir Fulke Grevil lord Brookes, with whom he lived to his death, which was that a servant of his (that had long wayted on him and his lordship had often told him that he would doe something for him, but did not but still putt him off with delayes) as he was trussing up his lord's pointes comeinge from stoole (for then their breeches were fastned to the doubletts with points — then came in hookes and eies — which not to have fastened was in my boy-hood a great crime) stabbed him. This was at the same time that the duke of Buckingham was stabbed by Felton, and the great noise and report of the duke's, Sir William told me, quite drowned this of his lord's, that 'twas scarce taken notice of. This Sir Fulke G. was a good witt, and had been a good poet in his youth. He wrote a poeme in folio which he printed not till he was old, and then, (as Sir W. said) with too much judgment and refining, spoyld it, which was at first a delicate thing.
He writt a play or playes, and verses, which he did with so much sweetnesse and grace, that by it he got the love and friendship of his two Mecaenasses, Mr. Endymion Porter, and Mr. Henry Jermyn (since earl of St. Albans), to whom he has dedicated his poem called Madegascar. Sir John Suckling also was his great and intimate friend.
After the death of Ben Johnson he was made in his place Poet Laureat.
He gott a terrible clap [off] of a black handsome wench that lay in Axe-yard, Westminster, whom he thought on when he speakes of Dalga in Gondibert, which cost him his nose, with which unlucky mischance many witts were too cruelly bold: e.g. Sir John Menis, Sir John Denham, &c.
In 1641, when the troubles began, he was faine to fly into France, and at Canterbury he was seised on by the mayor — vide Sir John Menis' verses —
In the civill warres in England he was in the army of William, marquess of Newcastle (since duke), where he was generall of the ordinance. I have heard his brother Robert say, for that service there was owing to him by King Charles the First 10000 li. During that warre, 'twas his hap to have two aldermen of Yorke his prisoners, who were something stubborne, and would not give the ransome ordered by the councell of warr. Sir William used them civilly, and treated them in his tent, and sate them at the upper end of his table à la mode de France, and having donne so a good while to his chardge, told them (privately and friendly) that he was not able to keepe so chargeable guests, and bad them take an opportunity to escape, which they did; but having been gon a little way they considered with themselves that in gratitude they ought to goe back and give Sir William their thankes; which they did, but it was like to have been to their great danger of being taken by the soldiers; but they happened to gett safe to Yorke.
The King's party being overcome, Sir William Davenant (who received the honour of knighthood from the duke of Newcastle by commision) went into France; resided chiefly in Paris where the Prince of Wales then was. He then began to write his romance in verse, called Gondibert, and had not writt above the first booke, but being very fond of it, prints it (before a quarter finished), with an epistle of his to Mr. Thomas Hobbes and Mr. Hobbes' excellent epistle to him printed before it. The courtiers with the Prince of Wales could never be at quiet about this piece, which was the occasion of a very witty but satericall little booke of verses in 8vo. about 4 sheetes, writt by George, duke of Buckes, Sir John Denham, etc .—
This last word Mr. Hobs told me was the occasion of their writing.
Here he layd an ingeniose designe to carry a considerable number of artificers (chiefly weavers) from hence to Virginia; and by Mary the queen-mother's meanes, he got favour from the king of France to goe into the prisons and pick and choose. So when the poor dammed wretches understood what the designe was, they cryed uno ore — 'Tout tisseran!' i.e. We are all weavers! Will. took 36, as I remember, if not more, and shipped them; and as he was in his voyage towards Virginia, he and his tisseran were all taken by the shippes then belonging to the Parliament of England. The slaves I suppose they sold, but Sir William was brought prisoner to England. Whither he was first a prisoner at Caresbroke-castle in the Isle of Wight, or at the Tower of London, I have forgott: he was a prisoner at both.
His Gondibert, 4to, was finished at Caresbroke-castle. He expected no mercy from the Parliament, and had no hopes of escaping with his life. It pleased God that the two aldermen of Yorke aforesayd hearing that he was taken and brought to London to be tryed for his life, which they understood was in extreme danger, they were touched with so much generosity and goodnes, as, upon their owne accounts and meer motion, to try what they could to save Sir William's life who had been so civill to them and a meanes to save theirs, to come to London: and acquainting the Parliament with it, upon their petition, etc., Sir William's life was saved.
'Twas Harry Martyn that saved Sir William Davenant's life in the Howse. — When they were talking of sacrificing one, then said Henry that 'in sacrifices they always offered pure and without blemish: now yee talke of making a sacrifice of an old rotten rascall.' Vide H. Martyn's Life, where by this very jest, then forgot, the lord Falkland saved H. Martyn's Life.
Being freed from imprisonment, (because playes, scil. Tragedies and Comoedies, were in those Presbyterian times scandalous) he contrives to set-up an Opera stylo recitativo, wherein serjeant Maynard and severall citizens were engagers. It began at Rutland-house, in Charter-house-yard; next, (scil. anno ...) at the Cock-pitt in Drury-lane, where were acted very well stylo recitativo, Sir Francis Drake's ..., and the Siege of Rhodes (1st and 2d part). It did affect the eie and eare extremely. This first brought scenes in fashion in England; before, at playes, was only a hanging.
Anno Domini 1660 was the happy restauration of his majestie Charles II. Then was Sir Wm. made ...; and the Tennis court in Little Lincolnes-Inne fielde was turn'd into a play-house for the duke of Yorke's players, where Sir William had lodgeings, and where he dyed, April the 7th 1668. It is now a Tennis court again, upon the building of the duke's house in Dorset garden.
I was at his funerall. He had a coffin of walnutt-tree; Sir John Denham sayd 'twas the finest coffin that ever he sawe. His body was carried in a herse from the play-house to Westminster-Abbey, where, at the great west dore, he was recieved by the singing men and choristers, who sang the service of the church ('I am the Resurrection, &c.') to his grave, which is in the south crosse aisle, on which, on a paving stone of marble, is writt, in imitation of that on Ben Johnson, 'O rare Sir Will. Davenant.' Which is neer to the monument of Dr. Isaac Barrow. — Memorandum:— my honoured friend Sir Robert Moray lies by him; but sans inscription.
His first lady was Dr. ...'s daughter, physitian, ... by whom he had a very beautifull and ingeniose son that dyed above 20 yeares since. His 2d lady was the daughter of ... by whom he had severall children: I sawe some very young ones at the funerall. His eldest is Charles Davenant, LL.Dr., who inherits his father's beauty and phancy. He practises at Doctors Commons. He writt a play called Circe, which haz taken very well.
Sir William hath writt about 25 (quaere) playes; the romance called Gondibert; and a little poeme called Madagascar.
His private opinion was that Religion at last, — e.g. a hundred yeares hence, — would come to settlement, and that in a kind of ingeniose Quakerisme.
That sweet swan of Isis, Sir William Davenant, dyed the seaventh day of April last, and lyes buried amongst the poets in Westminster abbey, by his antagonist, Mr. Thomas May, whose inscription of whose marble was taken away by order since the king came in.
Sir William was Poet Laureat; and Mr. John Dryden hath his place. But me thought it had been proper that a laurell should have been sett on his coffin — which was not donne.
He hath writt above 20 playes; besides his Gondibert and Madagascar.
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3. References
Aubrey, John, Brief Lives, chiefly of Contemporaries, set down by John Aubrey between the years 1669 and 1689, Clarendon Press, 1898.
Austin, Whiltshire Stanton and John Ralph, The Lives of the Poets-Laureate, Richard Bentley, London, 1853, 428p. c.f. Sir William Davenant, pp.109-141.
Bridgewater, David, The Bust of Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, English 18th Century Portrait Sculpture, 17 August 2020.
Davenant, William, The Works of Sir William Davenant, Henry Herringman, London, 1673. Reissued Benjamin Blom, New York, 1968.
-----, Macbeth : A tragedy / With all the alterations, amendments, additions, and new songs (by Sir William Davenant) as it is now acted at the Dukes Theatre, P. Chetwin, London, 1674, 82p. Digital copy at Internet Archive, with various editions available. c.f. National Library of Australia, Rare Book: RB MISC 839.
Dyson Peter, Changes in Dramatic Perspective: From Shakespeare's Macbeth to Davenant's, Shakespeare Quarterly, 30(3), Summer 1979, 402-407.
Goldswain, Ralph, William Davenant, That Shakespeare Life, episode 139, 11 January 2026, YouTube, duration: 39.14 minutes.
McKluskie, Kathleen E., William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Liverpool University Press, 2007, chapter 7, 110-123.
Pepys, Samuel, The Diary of Samuel Pepys 1659-1669, George Bell & Sons, London, 1895.
Poltrack, Emma, Leading ladies, missing characters, and singing witches: Three differences between Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' and William Davenant's adaptation, Folger Shakespeare Library, 7 August 2018.
Román, Blanca López, Sir William D'Avenant's so-called improvements of Macbeth (1674), Dialnet, University of Granada, Spain, 1990, 13p.
Samuel Pepys on Shakespeare in the theatre, 1660-9, Shakespeare, The Critical Heritage, Volume 1 1623-92, 30-2.
Spencer, Christopher, Davenant's [William Shakespeare] Macbeth from the Yale manuscript : an edition with a discussion of the relation of Davenant's text to Shakespeare's, Yale Studies in English, volume 146, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1961, 226p. Digital copy available at Internet Archive. A complete transcript of the Yale manuscript version of the play is to be found at pages 79 - 146.
Spencer, Hazelton, Shakespeare Improved: The Restoration Versions in Quarto and on the Stage, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1927.
Stirling, Simon Andrew, Shakespeare's Bastard: The Life of Sir William Davenant, The History Press, 2016, 258p.
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| Chandos portrait - Shakespeare 1606-10. |
Summers, Montagu (editor), John Downes: Roscius Anglicanus, Fortune Press, London, 1927.
Watkins, Stephen, Heroic Shakespeare and Lincoln's Inn Fields, in Amanda Eubanks Winkler, Claude Fretz and Richard Schoch (editors), Performing Restoration Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, 2023, chapter 2, 38-60.
Wikipedia, Chandos portrait, Wikipedia, accessed 23 July 2026.
-----, Macbeth, Wikipedia, accessed 22 July 2026.
-----, Macbeth (1971 film), Wikipedia, accessed 23 July 2026.
-----, Three Witches, Wikipedia, accessed 23 July 2026.
-----, William Davenant, Wikipedia, accessed 22 July 2026.
-----, William Shakespeare, Wikipedia, accessed 22 July 2026.
William Davenant's Macbeth (1674) - A staged reading, Yale College Arts, 2 April 2017.
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Last updated: 4 August 2026
Michael Organ, Australia
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