Ira Frederick Aldridge (July 24, 1807 – August 7, 1867) was an American-born British actor, playwright, and theatre manager, known for his portrayal of Shakespearean characters. James Hewlett and Aldridge are regarded as the first Black American tragedians.
Born in New York City, Aldridge's first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the African Grove Theatre troupe. Facing discrimination in America, he left in 1824 for England and made his debut at London's Royal Coburg Theatre. As his career grew, his performances of Shakespeare's classics eventually met with critical acclaim and he subsequently became the manager of Coventry's Coventry Theatre Royal. From 1852, Aldridge regularly toured much of Continental Europe and received top honours from several heads of state. He died suddenly while on tour in Poland and was buried with honours in Łódź.
Aldridge is the only actor of African-American descent honoured with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Two of Aldridge's daughters, Amanda and Luranah, became professional opera singers.
Early life and career
Aldridge was born in New York City, in the United States, to The Reverend Daniel and Luranah (also spelled Lurona) Aldridge on July 24, 1807, but a few early biographies state that he was born in Bel Air, Maryland. At the age of 13, Aldridge went to the African Free School in New York City, established by the New-York Manumission Society for the children of free black people and slaves. They were given a classical education, including English grammar, writing, mathematics, geography, and astronomy. His classmates at the school included James McCune Smith, Alexander Crummell, Charles L. Reason, George T. Downing, and Henry H. Garnet.Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p. 657
Aldridge's first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the African Company, a group founded and managed by William Henry Brown and James Hewlett. In 1821, the group built the African Grove Theatre, the first resident African-American theatre in the United States. The short-lived company was the subject of protests by neighbors, attacks by a rival company, and a racist parody published by newspaper editor and Sheriff of New York Mordecai Manuel Noah. This hostility indicated few prospects for Aldridge's acting career in America. Aldridge made his acting debut as Rolla, a Peruvian character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's Pizarro. He may have also played the male lead in Romeo and Juliet, as reported later in an 1860 memoir by his schoolfellow, Dr. James McCune Smith.
Confronted with the persistent discrimination which black actors had to endure in the United States, Aldridge emigrated to Liverpool, England, in 1824 with actor James Wallack. During this time the Industrial Revolution had begun, bringing about radical economic change that helped expand the development of theatres. The British parliament had abolished slavery in the UK in the 11th century, had outlawed the Atlantic slave trade and was moving toward abolishing slavery in the British Empire, which increased the prospect of black actors from abroad looking to perform.
Having limited onstage experience and lacking popular recognition, Aldridge concocted a story of his African lineage, claiming to have descended from the Fulani princely line. By 1831, Aldridge had temporarily taken the name of Keene, a homonym for the then popular British actor, Edmund Kean. Aldridge observed a common theatrical practice of assuming an identical or similar name to that of a celebrity in order to garner attention. In addition to being called F. W. Keene Aldridge, he would later be called African Roscius, after the famous Roman actor of the first century BCE.
In May 1825, at the age of 17, Aldridge first appeared on the London stage in a low profile production of Othello. On October 10, 1825, Aldridge made a much more high-profile debut at London's Royal Coburg Theatre, and became the first African-American actor to establish himself professionally in a foreign country. He played the lead role of Oroonoko in The Revolt of Surinam, or A Slave's Revenge; this play was an adaptation of Thomas Southerne's Oroonoko (itself adapted from Aphra Behn's original work).
According to the scholar Shane White, British theatre audiences had heard of New York's African Theatre because of actor and comedian Charles Mathews. Mathews had recently produced a popular comedic lampoon of what he imagined the African Theater was like (he had never actually been). Bernth Lindfors stated: [W]hen Aldridge starts appearing on the stage at the Royalty Theatre, he's just called a gentleman of color. But when he moves over to the Royal Coburg, he's advertised in the first playbill as the American Tragedian from the African Theater New York City. The second playbill refers to him as "The African Tragedian". So everybody goes to the theater expecting to laugh because this is the man they think Mathews saw in New York City.
An innovation Aldridge introduced early in his career was a direct address to the audience on the closing night of his engagement at a given theatre. Aldridge would speak to the audience on a variety of social issues which affected the United States, Europe and Africa. In particular, Aldridge spoke on his pro-abolitionist sentiments, for which he was widely celebrated. Aldridge's abolitionist work went hand in hand with his membership in Prince Hall Freemasonry.
Critical reception
During Aldridge's seven-week engagement at the Royal Coburg, the young actor starred in five plays. He earned admiration from his audiences while critics emphasized Aldridge's lack of formal stage training and experience. According to modern critics Errol Hill and James Vernon Hatch, early reviews were mixed. For The Times he was "baker-kneed and narrow-chested with lips so shaped that it is utterly impossible for him to pronounce English"; The Globe found his conception of Oroonoko to be very judicious and his enunciation distinct and sonorous; and The Drama described him as "tall and tolerably well proportioned with a weak voice that gabbles apace." The Times critic also found fault with Aldridge's "copper" complexion, considering it insufficiently dark for Othello.The Times (London, England), 11 October 1825, p. 2. Meanwhile, The Athenaeum magazine was scandalized by a black man with white actresses, and the paper Figaro in London sought to "drive him from the stage" because of his color.
Aldridge performed scenes from Othello that impressed reviewers. One critic wrote, "In Othello [Aldridge] delivers the most difficult passages with a degree of correctness that surprises the beholder."Herbert Marshall, Ira Aldridge: The African Tragedian, He gradually progressed to larger roles; by 1825, he had top billing at London's Coburg Theatre as Oronoko in A Slave's Revenge, soon to be followed by the role of Gambia in The Slave, and the title role of Shakespeare's Othello. He also played major roles in plays such as The Castle Spectre and The Padlock. In search of new and suitable material, Aldridge also appeared occasionally as white European characters, for which he would be made up with greasepaint and wig. Examples of these are Captain Dirk Hatteraick and Bertram in Rev. R. C. Maturin's Bertram, the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
Touring, and later years
In 1828, Aldridge visited Coventry while he was largely touring the English provinces. After his acting impressed the people of the city, he was made the manager at Coventry Theatre Royal, owned by Sir Skears Rew, and thus became the first ever African American to manage a British theatre.
During the months when Aldridge remained in Coventry, he made various speeches about the evils of slavery. And after he left Coventry, his speeches and the impression he made, inspired the people of Coventry to go to the county hall, and petition to the Parliament, to abolish slavery.
In 1831 Aldridge successfully played in Dublin; at several locations in southern Ireland, where he created a sensation in the small towns; as well as in Bath, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. The actor Edmund Kean praised his Othello, and since he was an African-American actor from the African Theatre, The Times termed him the "African Roscius", after the famed actor of ancient Rome. Aldridge used this to his benefit and expanded African references in his biography that appeared in playbills, also identifying his birthplace as "Africa" in his entry in the 1851 census.1851 England, Wales and Scotland census, folio 446, p. 30. Aldridge is staying at a boarding house in Derby with his wife and son, and gives his occupation as "Tragedian'".
By at least 1833 he had added the anti-heroic role of Zanga in Edward Young's The Revenge to his repertoire. The Revenge (1721) race-flips the plot of Othello by showing how Zanga, a captured Moorish prince who has become the servant and confidant of the noble Don Alonzo, vengefully tricks him into believing his wife is unfaithful. Alonzo finally kills himself and Zanga exults: "Let Europe and her pallid sons go weep; / Let Afric and her hundred thrones rejoice: / Oh, my dear countrymen, look down and see / How I bestride your prostrate conqueror!"The Revenge: A Tragedy by Edward Young. An illustrated review of this performance"The Theatre", Black Presence, The National Archives. at the Surrey TheatreThe Illustrated London News, 1 April 1848, p. 218. shows Aldridge triumphing over Alonzo, dressed in flowing Moorish robes, which, according to the critic, "reminds one of the portraits of Abd-el Kader". The same reviewer praised Aldridge's comic talents in the contrasting role of Mungo (in the Bickerstaffe farce The Padlock), describing them as a refreshing corrective, "...differing entirely from the Ethiopian absurdities we have been taught to look upon as correct portraitures; his total abandon is very amusing."
During the 1840s, Aldridge performed across towns in Northumberland, performing in Alnwick in 1843 and Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1840, 1843 and 1849.
In 1841, Aldridge toured towns across Lincolnshire, performing in Gainsborough, Grantham, Spilsby, and Horncastle. In 1842, Aldridge performed in Lincoln; local newspapers reported that his arrival in a travelling coach was a remarkable sight and caused a stir with inhabitants of the city. Despite the eye-catching arrival, Aldridge's performances were not well attended. In June 1844 he made appearances on stage in Exmouth (Devon, England)."Exmouth. This pleasant watering place has during the last two days been enlivened by the performances of the 'African Roscius'. Numerous assemblies have on each night testified their approbation of his impersonation of Othello and Revenge." in Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, 26 June 1844 (issue no. 4103). In 1847, he performed in Boston. Aldridge returned to Lincoln in 1849 to favourable reviews. The Lincoln Standard reported on Aldridge's performance, “his talents are first rate, and his conduct gentlemanly, strongly evidencing that mankind all have an equal capacity, if they had but the opportunity of receiving instruction.”