Ira
Aldridge was born in New York on 24th
July, 1807. His father, a church minister, sent him to the African
Free School. As a young man Aldridge developed a love of the theatre.
Aware that a career as an actor in America would be difficult he decided
to emigrate to England. He obtained employment as a ship's steward
and arrived in Liverpool in 1824.
Aldridge
appeared as Oroonoko in A Slave's Revenge
at the Royal Coburg Theatre in October, 1825. The reviews were mixed
and although The Globe found his
voice "distinct and sonorous" The
Times reviewer complained that he could not pronounce English
properly "owing to the shape of his lips".
Over
the next few years appeared in plays in Manchester,
Sheffield,
Halifax, Newcastle,
Liverpool,
Hull,
Sunderland
and
Belfast.
After his performance in Othello
in Scarborough he was described as"an actor of genius".
He also appeared in several white roles as Shylock, Macbeth and Richard
III.
In 1833 newspaper critics
began to make openly racist comments about Aldridge. One critic protested
"in the name of propriety and decency" about the decision
to pair Aldridge with the actress Ellen Tree.
He added that he disliked Tree being "pawed about on the stage
by a black man."
As a result of these attack
London theatres refused to employ him. However, he was in great demand
in the provincial theatre and one newspaper described his performance
as Othello as being so good that it could only "be equalled by
very few actors of the present day."
Frustrated by being blacklisted
in London he decided to leave England and appeared on the stage in
Brussels, Cologne, Basle, Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Prague,
Vienna, Budapest, Danzig, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Munich. While
in Russia he became one of the highest paid
actors in the world when he received £60 for every performance.
One Russian critic stated that the evenings on which he saw Aldridge's
Othello, Lear, Shylock and Macbeth "were undoubtedly the best
that I have ever spent in the theatre".
Ira
Aldridge
died while on tour in Poland on 7th August,
1867.
