Why did W.C. Macready dislike Planche?
Therein hangs a tale! Primarily, the two men were simply incompatible. Planche was gregarious, Macready taciturn. Planche was playful, Macready serious. Even while they worked together, there is little indication they developed a personal understanding. Then there was Planche’s association with C.J. Mathews and Eliza Vestris. Their company had performed in Macready’s theater for a while, and then walked out on their contract with him. They felt they had reason, but Macready understandably objected. Planche and Dance did actually complete their commitment to Macready, but there was bound to be awkwardness in such a situation. The final straw seems to have been when Planche insisted he owned the rights to “Fortunio,” the extravaganza he had written for Macready’s company. When Planche, at the end of his contract, followed Mathews and Vestris to another theater, he took his play and produced it with them. This outraged Macready; many people in those days assumed the person who commissione
