Thursday 10 December 2015


Timeline: premieres and selected subsequent performances of the Nixoniad

Late 1969 - Shakespeare arrives in New York
1970 - working on Eisenhower and The Tragedy of John Kennedy
Around September 1970 - begins work on Harry Truman Part I
February 1971 - first performance of Harry Truman Part I at Alleyn's Theater
May 1971 - first performance of the masque The Tragedy of John Kennedy, venue unknown
November 1971 - first performance of Harry Truman Part II at the Empire Theater; Burbage arrives in New York
January 1972 - first performance of Eisenhower at Alleyn's Theater
October 1972 - first performance of Lyndon Johnson Part II at Alleyn's Theater, under the title The History of Lyndon Johnson
November 1972 - Richard Nixon re-elected as president; Beaumont arrested
December 1972 - closure of Alleyn's Theater; Alleyn leaves the US for France; death of Harry Truman
January 1973 - death of Lyndon Johnson
February 1973 - Burbage and Beaumont return to England
May 1973 - first performance of Lyndon Johnson Part I at the Great Rose in Boston
January 1974 - Shakespeare returns to England
August 1974 - first performance of Lyndon Johnson Part III at the Haymarket Theatre in London; resignation of President Nixon
December 1974 - first New York performance of Lyndon Johnson Part III
April 1975 - first performance of Richard Nixon at the National Theatre in London
June 1976 - first New York performance of Richard Nixon
9 September 1991 - death of William Shakespeare
1994 - death of Richard Nixon; first complete performance of the Nixoniad (including John Kennedy), produced by Trevor Nunn in London
1997 - revised Oxford edition of Shakespeare's works omits John Kennedy, based on vocabulary analysis showing it was mostly the work of other authors
1998 - Kenneth Branagh produces The White House, a heavily abridged adaptation of the Nixoniad, as three plays, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon
2001-2 - The US National Theater Corporation tours the country with The West Wing, its own adaptation of the Nixoniad
Summer 2004 - Citizens Theatre stages its "Other Voices" Nixoniad project, including, as well as Shakespeare's plays, John Kennedy, Ensler's Lady Bird and Cole's The Mountain (both commissioned for the project) and Fletcher's Fear and Loathing and The Right Stuff

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