Adelphi, London
Adelphi is a district of the City of Westminster in London. The small district includes the streets of Robert Street and John Adam Street. Of rare use colloquially, Adelphi is grouped with Aldwych as the greater Strand district which for many decades formed a parliamentary constituency and civil registration district; the district is named after the Adelphi Buildings, a block of 24 unified neoclassical terrace houses occupying the land between The Strand and the River Thames in the parish of St Martin in the Fields, which included a headquarters building for the "Society for the encouragement of Arts and Commerce". They were built between 1768–72, by the Adam brothers, to whom the buildings' Greek-derived name refers; the ruins of Durham House on the site were demolished for their construction. The nearby Adelphi Theatre is named after the Adelphi Buildings. Robert Adam was influenced by his extensive visit to Diocletian's Palace in Split, Croatia Dalmatia, applied some of this influence to the design of the neoclassical Adelphi Buildings.
Many of the Adelphi Buildings were demolished in the early 1930s and replaced with the New Adelphi, a monumental Art Deco building designed by the firm of Collcutt & Hamp. Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop was located here in the 1940s; the London School of Economics held its first classes in October 1895, in rooms at 9 John Street, before setting up more permanent operations in Number 10 Adelphi Terrace. By 1920, the LSE had moved a few blocks east, to its current Clare Market address. While in Adelphi, the LSE’s scholars and students were active in the surrounding neighbourhood and community. Adelphi has no formally defined boundaries, though they are agreed to be: Strand to the north, Lancaster Place to the east, Victoria Embankment to the south and Charing Cross station to the west; the small set of streets east of Northumberland Avenue are included here for convenience. Adam Street – after John and Robert Adam, who built the Adelphi development in the 1760s Adelphi Terrace – the area was developed by the brothers John and Robert Adam, in the 1760s, was named after adelphos, the Greek for ‘brother’ The Arches – descriptive, after the railway arches here Buckingham Arcade and Buckingham Street – after George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 17th century courtier, who acquired York House which stood on this site.
It passed into the ownership of the earls of Lancaster in the 13th century, the most famous of, John of Gaunt, who owned the palace at the times of its destruction in Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 Northumberland Avenue and Northumberland Street – site of the former Northumberland House, built in the early 17th century for the earls of Northampton and acquired by the earls of Northumberland Robert Street and Lower Robert Street – after Robert Adam, who built the Adelphi development with his brother John in the 1760s Savoy Buildings, Savoy Court, Savoy Hill, Savoy Place, Savoy Row, Savoy Steps, Savoy Street and Savoy Way – the former site of the Savoy Palace, built for Peter II, Count of Savoy in 1245 Strand and Strand Lane – from Old English ‘stond’, meaning the edge of a river.
Charing Cross tube station
Charing Cross is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster. The station is served by the Bakerloo and Northern lines and provides an interchange with Charing Cross mainline station, it has entrances in the mainline station. On the Bakerloo line it is between Embankment and Piccadilly Circus stations and on the Northern line it is between Embankment and Leicester Square stations; the station was served by the Jubilee line between 1979 and 1999, acting as the southern terminus of the line during that period. The station is in fare zone 1. Charing Cross was two separate stations, known for most of their existence as Trafalgar Square and Strand; these were given the current name when the Jubilee line opened. The station is close to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Admiralty Arch, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Canada House, South Africa House, the Savoy Hotel, The Mall, Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall; the Northern line and Bakerloo line parts of the station were opened as two separate stations and were combined when the now defunct Jubilee line platforms were opened.
The constituent stations underwent a number of name changes during their history. The first part of the complex, the Bakerloo line platforms, was opened as Trafalgar Square by the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway on 10 March 1906; the Northern line platforms were opened a year as Charing Cross, by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway on 22 June 1907. At its opening this station was the southern terminus of the CCE&HR which ran to two northern termini at Golders Green and Highgate tube stations. Although both lines were owned and operated by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, there was no direct connection below ground and passengers interchanging between the lines had to do so via two sets of lifts and the surface. In an effort to improve interchange capabilities, the CCE&HR was extended the short distance south under Charing Cross main line station to connect with the BS&WR and the District Railway, opening as such on 6 April 1914; the interchange station between the BS&WR and District had been known hitherto as Charing Cross and Embankment.
The original CCE&HR terminus to the north of Charing Cross main line station was renamed Charing Cross and the new station and the BS&WR station to the south of the main line station was named Charing Cross. These names lasted only a short time: on 9 May 1915, Charing Cross was renamed Strand and for Charing Cross the tube lines adopted the District Railway name of Charing Cross. At the same time, the separate Strand station on the Great Northern and Brompton Railway was renamed Aldwych to avoid confusion; the Northern line Strand station was closed on 4 June 1973 to enable the construction of the new Jubilee line platforms. These platforms were constructed between the Bakerloo line and Northern line platforms together with the long-missing below-ground interchange between those two lines. In anticipation of the new interchange station, from 4 August 1974 Charing Cross was renamed Charing Cross Embankment; the Jubilee line platforms and the refurbished Northern line platforms opened on 1 May 1979 from which date the combined station including Trafalgar Square was given its current name.
The West End branch of the Northern line has been known as the Charing Cross branch since before the 1979 renaming, this name has continued despite the change of station to which it refers. Although Charing Cross was constructed as the southern terminus of the Jubilee line, plans existed to continue the line to the east towards Lewisham in south-east London; the tunnels were therefore constructed beyond the station beneath the Strand as far as 143 Strand as far as Aldwych which would have been the next stop on the line. The subsequent regeneration of the Docklands in London's East End during the 1980s and 1990s required additional transport infrastructure and the eventual route of the extension took the new tunnels south from Green Park to provide new interchanges at Westminster and London Bridge stations and on to the Greenwich Peninsula and Stratford; the new tunnels branch away from the original south of Green Park station and, on the opening of the final section of the line between Green Park and Waterloo stations on 20 November 1999, the Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross were closed to the travelling public.
For several years, the escalators continuing down to the closed platforms could still be seen through closed doors at the bottom of the escalators from the ticket hall. The Jubilee line platforms are still used by Jubilee line trains as sidings to reverse trains from south to north; the tunnels extend beyond the platforms into the "Overrun". Each overrun has the capacity to stable a further two trains each; as the Jubilee line platforms and track are still maintained by TfL for operational reasons, they can be used by film and television makers requiring a modern Underground station location. While still open they were used in the 1987 film The Fourth Protocol, after closure in numerous productions, including different episodes of the television series Spooks, the films Creep, 28 Weeks Later, The Deaths of Ian Stone (200
Cox and Box
Cox and Box. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Cox by John Maddison Morton, it was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two lodgers, one who works at night and one who works during the day; when one of them has the day off, they meet each other in the room and tempers flare. Sullivan wrote this piece five years before his first opera with W. S. Gilbert, Thespis; the piece premiered in 1866 and was seen a few times at charity benefits in 1867. Once given a professional production in 1869, it became popular, running for 264 performances and enjoying many revivals and further charity performances. During the 20th century, it was played by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in an abridged version, as a curtain raiser for the shorter Gilbert and Sullivan operas, it has been played by numerous professional and amateur companies throughout the world and continues to be produced. The Moray Minstrels were an informal gathering of notable members of London society and the arts, including painters and writers, who were amateur musicians.
They would meet for musical evenings at Moray Lodge, in Kensington, the home of Arthur James Lewis, a haberdasher and silk merchant, who married the actress Kate Terry in 1867. The Minstrels would discuss the arts and sing part-songs and other popular music at monthly gatherings of more than 150 lovers of the arts. Foster, as well as the dramatist F. C. Burnand and many other members were friendly with young Arthur Sullivan. On one occasion in early 1865, they heard a performance of Offenbach's short two-man operetta Les deux aveugles. After seeing another operetta at Moray Lodge the following winter, Burnand asked Sullivan to collaborate on a new piece to be performed for the Minstrels. Burnand adapted the libretto for this "triumviretta" from John Maddison Morton's famous farce and Cox, which had premiered in London in 1847, starring J. B. Buckstone; the text follows Morton's play differing in only two notable respects. First, in the play the protagonists lodge with Mrs Bouncer; this change was necessitated by the intention of performing the piece for the all-male gathering of the Moray Minstrels.
Secondly, Burnand wrote original lyrics to be set to music by the 24-year-old Sullivan. The date and venue of the first performance was much disputed, starting in 1890, in duelling letters to The World, with Burnand and Lewis each claiming to have hosted it. Andrew Lamb has concluded that the run-through at Burnand's home on 23 May 1866 was a rehearsal, followed by the first performance at Lewis's home on 26 May 1866. A printed programme for the 23 May performance surfaced, suggesting more than a mere rehearsal, but the composer himself supported the date, writing to The World, "I feel bound to say that Burnand's version came upon me with the freshness of a novel. My own recollection of the business is distinct". George Grove noted in his diary of 13 May that he attended a performance of Cox and Box, which Lamb takes to have been an open rehearsal; the original cast was George du Maurier as Box, Harold Power as Cox, John Foster as Bouncer, with Sullivan himself improvising the accompaniment at the piano.
Another performance at Moray Lodge took place eleven months on 26 April 1867. This was followed by the first public performance, given as part of a charity benefit by the Moray Minstrels for the widow and children of C. H. Bennett, on 11 May 1867 at the Adelphi Theatre, with du Maurier as Box, Quintin Twiss as Cox and Arthur Cecil as Bouncer, performing as an amateur under his birth name, Arthur Blunt. A review in The Times commented that Burnand had adapted Morton's libretto well, that Sullivan's music was "full of sparking tune and real comic humour"; the rest of the evening's entertainment included a musicale by the Moray Minstrels, the play A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing and Les deux aveugles. The opera was heard with a full orchestra for the first time on that occasion, with Sullivan completing the orchestration a matter of hours before the first rehearsal; the Musical World praised both author and composer, suggesting that the piece would gain success if presented professionally. It was repeated on 18 May 1867 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration in Regent Street.
The critic for the magazine Fun, W. S. Gilbert, wrote of the 11 May performance: Mr. Burnand's version of Box and Cox... is capitally written, Mr. Sullivan's music is charming throughout; the faults of the piece, as it stands, are twain. Firstly: Mr. Burnand should have operatized the whole farce, condensing it, at the same time, into the smallest compass, consistent with an intelligible reading of the plot.... Secondly, Mr. Sullivan's music is, in many places, of too high a class for the grotesquely absurd plot to which it is wedded, it is funny and there, grand or graceful where it is not funny. The music was capitally sung by Messrs. Du Maurier and Blunt At yet another charity performance, at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, on 29 July 1867, the overture was heard for the first time; the autograph full score is inscribed, Ouverture à la Triumvirette musicale'Cox et Boxe' et'Bouncer' composée par Arthur S. Sullivan, Paris, 23 Juillet 1867. Hotel Meurice; the duet, "Stay, stay!" was first heard in
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature with a happy ending. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria, it made its way to France, where it became opéra bouffon, in the following century, French operetta, with Jacques Offenbach as its most accomplished practitioner. The influence of the Italian and French forms spread to other parts of Europe. Many countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating the Italian and French models along with their own musical traditions. Examples include Viennese operetta, German singspiel, Spanish zarzuela, Russian comic opera, English ballad opera, Savoy Opera. In late 17th-century Italy, light-hearted musical plays began to be offered as an alternative to weightier opera seria. Il Trespolo tutore by Alessandro Stradella was an early precursor of opera buffa; the opera has a farcical plot, the characters of the ridiculous guardian Trespolo and the maid Despina are prototypes of characters used in the opera buffa genre.
The form began to flourish in Naples with Alessandro Scarlatti's Il trionfo dell'onore. At first written in Neapolitan dialect, these works became "Italianized" with the operas of Scarlatti, Piccinni, Paisiello and the great comic operas of Mozart and Rossini and Donizetti. At first, comic operas were presented as intermezzi between acts of more serious works. Neapolitan and Italian comic opera grew into an independent form and became the most popular form of staged entertainment in Italy from about 1750 to 1800. In 1749, thirteen years after Pergolesi's death, his La serva padrona swept Italy and France, evoking the praise of such French Enlightenment luminaries as Rousseau. In 1760, Niccolò Piccinni wrote the music to La Cecchina to a text by the great Venetian playwright, Carlo Goldoni; that text was based on Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. Many years Verdi called La Cecchina the "first true Italian comic opera" –, to say, it had everything: it was in standard Italian and not in dialect. Verdi was enthusiastic because the music was by a southern Italian and the text by a northerner, which appealed to Verdi's pan-Italian vision.
The genre was developed further in the 19th century by Gioachino Rossini in his masterpieces such as The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola. French composers eagerly seized upon the Italian model and made it their own, calling it opéra comique. Early proponents included Daniel François Auber and Adolphe Adam. Although reserved for less serious works, the term opéra comique came to refer to any opera that included spoken dialogue, including works such as Cherubini's Médée and Bizet's Carmen that are not "comic" in any sense of the word. Florimond Hervé is credited as opérette. Working on the same model, Jacques Offenbach surpassed him, writing over ninety operettas. Whereas earlier French comic operas had a mixture of sentiment and humour, Offenbach's works were intended to amuse. Though well crafted and full of humorous satire and grand opera parodies and characters in his works were interchangeable. Given the frenetic pace at which he worked, Offenbach sometimes used the same material in more than one opera.
Another Frenchman who took up this form was Charles Lecocq. The singspiel spread throughout Austria and Germany; as in the French opéra comique, the singspiel was an opera with spoken dialogue, a comic subject, such as Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Singspiels, such as Beethoven's Fidelio and Weber's Der Freischütz, retained the form, but explored more serious subjects. 19th century Viennese operetta was built on the French model. Franz von Suppé is remembered for his overtures. Johann Strauss II, the "waltz king", contributed The Gypsy Baron. Carl Millöcker a long-time conductor at the Theater an der Wien composed some of the most popular Viennese operettas of the late 19th century, including Der Bettelstudent and Der arme Jonathan. After the turn of the 20th century, Franz Lehár wrote The Merry Widow. Zarzuela, introduced in Spain in the 17th century, is rooted in popular Spanish traditional musical theatre, it alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating dances, with chorus numbers and humorous scenes that are duets.
These works are short, ticket prices were low, to appeal to the general public. There are two main forms of zarzuela: Baroque zarzuela, the earliest style, Romantic zarzuela, which can be further divided into the two subgenres of género grande and género chico. Pedro Calderón de la Barca was the first playwright to adopt the term zarzuela for his w
Strand, London
Strand is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. It runs just over 3⁄4 mile from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street inside the City of London, is part of the A4, a main road running west from inner London; the road's name comes from the Old English strond, meaning the edge of a river, as it ran alongside the north bank of the River Thames. The street was popular with the British upper classes between the 12th and 17th centuries, with many important mansions being built between the Strand and the river; these included Essex House, Arundel House, Somerset House, Savoy Palace, Durham House and Cecil House. The aristocracy moved to the West End over the 17th century, following which the Strand became well known for coffee shops and taverns; the street was a centre point for theatre and music hall during the 19th century, several venues remain on the Strand. At the east end of the street are two historic churches: St Mary le Strand and St Clement Danes.
This easternmost stretch of the Strand is home to King's College, one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. Several authors and philosophers have lived on or near the Strand, including Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Virginia Woolf; the street has been commemorated in the song "Let's All Go Down the Strand", now recognised as a typical piece of Cockney music hall. The street is the main link between the two cities of London, it runs eastward from Trafalgar Square, parallel to the River Thames, to Temple Bar, the boundary between the two cities at this point. Traffic travelling eastbound follows a short crescent around Aldwych, connected at both ends to the Strand; the road marks the southern boundary of the Covent Garden district and forms part of the Northbank business improvement district. The name was first recorded in 1002 as strondway in 1185 as Stronde and in 1220 as la Stranda, it is formed from the Old English word ` strond'. It referred to the shallow bank of the once much wider Thames, before the construction of the Victoria Embankment.
The name was applied to the road itself. In the 13th century it was known as'Densemanestret' or'street of the Danes', referring to the community of Danes in the area. Two London Underground stations were once named Strand: a Piccadilly line station that operated between 1907 and 1994 and a former Northern line station which today forms part of Charing Cross station.'Strand Bridge' was the name given to Waterloo Bridge during its construction. London Bus routes 6, 23, 139 and 176 all run along the Strand. During Roman Britain, what is now the Strand was part of the route to Silchester, known as "Iter VIII" on the Antonine Itinerary, which became known by the name Akeman Street, it was part of a trading town called Lundenwic that developed around 600 AD, stretched from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych. Alfred the Great moved the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886 AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, the area returned to fields. In the Middle Ages, the Strand became the principal route between the separate settlements of the City of London and the royal Palace of Westminster.
In the archaeological record, there is considerable evidence of occupation to the north of Aldwych, but much along the former foreshore has been covered by rubble from the demolition of the Tudor Somerset Place, a former royal residence, to create a large platform for the building of the first Somerset House, in the 17th century. The landmark Eleanor's Cross was built in the 13th century at the western end of the Strand at Charing Cross by Edward I commemorating his wife Eleanor of Castile, it was demolished in 1647 by the request of Parliament during the First English Civil War, but reconstructed in 1865. The west part of the Strand was in the parish of St Martin in the Fields and in the east it extended into the parishes of St Clement Danes and St Mary le Strand. Most of its length was in the Liberty of Westminster, although part of the eastern section in St Clement Danes was in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex; the Strand was the northern boundary of the precinct of the Savoy, where the approach to Waterloo Bridge is now.
All of these parishes and places became part of the Strand District in 1855, except St Martin in the Fields, governed separately. The Strand District Board of Works was based at No. 22, Tavistock Street. Strand District was abolished in October 1900 and became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. From the 12th century onwards, large mansions lined the Strand including several palaces and townhouses inhabited by bishops and royal courtiers on the south side, with their own river gates and landings directly on the Thames; the road was poorly maintained, with many pits and sloughs, a paving order was issued in 1532 to improve traffic. What became Essex House on the Strand was an Outer Temple of the Knights Templar in the 11th century. In 1313, ownership passed to the Knights of St John. Henry VIII gave the house to William, Baron Paget in the early 16th century. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, rebuilt the house in 1563 calling it Leicester House, it was renamed Essex House after being inherited by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1588.
It was demolished around 1674 and Essex Street, leading up to the Strand, was built o
Waitress (musical)
Waitress is a musical with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and a book by Jessie Nelson. The musical is based on the 2007 film of the same name, written by Adrienne Shelly, it tells the story of a waitress in an abusive relationship with her husband Earl. When Jenna unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she begins an affair with her gynecologist, Dr. Jim Pomatter. Looking for ways out, she sees a pie contest and its grand prize as her chance. Stage rights to the film were purchased in 2007, while the musical's creative team was assembled by 2013; the original production of Waitress premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge in August 2015, with direction by Diane Paulus and choreography by Chase Brock, starring Jessie Mueller, Drew Gehling, Joe Tippett as Jenna and Earl, respectively. It made its Broadway debut at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in April 2016. A U. S. national tour began on October 20, 2017. In 2019, Waitress opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End; the musical is based on the 2007 indie film Waitress.
The film was produced on a budget of just $1.5 million, earning over $23 million in global box office receipts. The film starred Keri Russell, was written and directed by Adrienne Shelly; the film follows Jenna, a waitress and pie chef living in the American South, who unexpectedly becomes pregnant and feels trapped in an unhappy marriage. Looking for a way out, she sees a pie contest and its grand prize as her chance. Following the 2013 Tony Awards, producers Barry and Fran Weissler announced that a musical version of the film was in the works, with Paula Vogel writing the book, Sara Bareilles writing the music and lyrics, direction by Diane Paulus; the Weisslers purchased the stage rights to the film shortly after its release in 2007. Paula Vogel withdrew from the project in January 2014. On December 11, 2014, the musical was confirmed, it was announced that the show would receive its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of their 2015–2016 season, with Jessie Nelson now writing the book.
A workshop was held the same month in New York City, with Jessie Mueller, Keala Settle, Christopher Fitzgerald, Bryce Pinkham and Andy Karl, among others, taking part. Nelson, with the blessing of the late Adrienne Shelly's husband, used some of Shelly's unfinished scripts to help bring "her voice" to the project. Waitress began previews at the American Repertory Theater on August 2, 2015, before the official opening on August 19, 2015, for a limited run to September 27, 2015. Tickets for the world premiere production sold out; the show has a book by Jessie Nelson, with direction by Diane Paulus, choreography by Chase Brock, set design by Scott Pask, costume design by Suttirat Anne Larlarb, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, musical direction by Nadia DiGiallonardo, sound by Jonathan Deans. The cast featured Jessie Mueller as Jenna, Drew Gehling as Jim, Joe Tippett as Earl, Jeanna de Waal as Dawn, Keala Settle as Becky, Dakin Matthews as Joe, Jeremy Morse as Ogie, Eric Anderson as Cal. During Cambridge previews, it was announced that the production would transfer to Broadway in March 2016.
Broadway previews began on March 25, 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, with the official opening slated for April 24 – just in time for the April 28 Tony Award cut-off date. Tickets went on sale on February 15. Changes to the creative team for the Broadway run included Lorin Latarro replacing Chase Brock as choreographer and Christopher Akerlind replacing Kenneth Posner as lighting designer. For the Broadway production, elements of the book were rewritten, new choreography developed, a new song written by Bareilles. Manhattan baker Stacy Donnelly and small business owner Dawn Mayo of Everythingdawn Bakery Candles & Treats were hired for the project. Donnelly was hired to ensure, she taught the cast how to work and roll pie dough, as the role of Jenna required Mueller to crack eggs, sift flour and roll out dough on stage. Mayo was hired to create all of the realistic prop pies used throughout the show. To help immerse audiences, real pies are warming as they enter the theater, creating the aroma of a pie shop.
Cast changes included Nick Cordero taking over the role of Earl, Kimiko Glenn as Dawn, Christopher Fitzgerald, who took part in the New York workshop, as Ogie. During previews, the production set a new record for a single performance at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, taking in $145,532; the production had required an initial investment of $12 million. During a technical halt at a preview performance and lyricist Sara Bareilles performed two songs, including "Down at the Diner" cut from the production. Waitress made history on Broadway with the four top creative spots in a show being filled by women. In addition, the costume designer and musical director were women. Sara Bareilles said she was proud to be part of an all-female team: "It's fun to be an example of the way it can look. We're a bunch of women who are committed to finding a way to build a unified vision." Only the 1978 Broadway musical Runaways had a similar history, with book, lyrics and direction all by Elizabeth Swados. A U. S. national tour began at Playhouse Square in Cleveland on October 20, 2017.
The first international production, produced by Atlantis Theatrical, debuted in November 2018 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium featuring Joanna Ampil as Jenna; the production debuted in London's West End on February 8, 2019 at the Adelphi Theatre and featured Katharine McPhee as Jenna, who had played the role on Broadway, Jack McBrayer as Ogie. On 14 June 2018, the Gordon Frost Organisation annou
John Baldwin Buckstone
John Baldwin Buckstone was an English actor and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of, produced in 1826. He starred as a comic actor during much of his career for various periods at the Adelphi Theatre and the Haymarket Theatre, managing the Haymarket from 1853 to 1877. Buckstone was born in Hoxton, the son of John Buckstone, a retired shopkeeper, his wife Elizabeth, he was educated at Walworth Grammar School and was apprenticed on a naval ship at age 10 but returned to school. He studied law and was articled to a solicitor but turned to acting by age 19. Buckstone first joined a travelling troupe in 1821 as Gabriel in The Children in the Wood. and toured for three years in the southeast of England. He found a mentor in Edmund Kean, he made his first London appearance, on 30 January 1823, at the Surrey Theatre, as Ramsay in The Fortunes of Nigel. In 1824 he played Peter Smink in The Armistice with great success, he began to write plays. His successes led to his engagement in 1827 at the Adelphi Theatre, where he remained as the leading low comedian until 1833.
Buckstone's acting was described as "a union of shrewdness and drollery, with their interaction upon each other... was irresistibly comic." Buckstone wrote most of his plays in the first half of his career, many of these were produced at the Adelphi. As his acting career reached the height of its success, his playwriting output declined. At the Adelphi, he appeared as Bobby Trot in his first successful play, the melodrama Luke the Labourer, which he had written in 1826. Other well known plays were Wreck Ashore and Forgery Perhaps the most successful of these early plays was his 1833 play, The Bravo, based on James Fenimore Cooper's novel of the same name, he first appeared at the Haymarket Theatre during the summer season in 1833 writing plays for this theatre, including Ellen Wartham. Another hit for the Haymarket was the drama Thirty Years of a Woman's Life. At that theatre, his acting was praised in The Housekeeper by Douglas Jerrold and Thisbe, in his own plays, Uncle John, Rural Felicity and Agnes de Vere.
He stayed at the Haymarket until 1838. In 1839–40 he returned to the Adelphi to write and star in a number of plays, including his extraordinarily successful play Jack Sheppard, based on the novel of the same name published that year by William Harrison Ainsworth. After his return from a visit to the United States in 1840, where he met with little success, Buckstone played in his own play, Married Life, at the Haymarket, he appeared at several London theatres, among them the Lyceum, where he was Box at the first representation of Box and Cox, by John Maddison Morton, in 1847. There he created the role of Bob, in Dion Boucicault's Old Heads and Young Hearts, played several other memorable roles, Slowboy in Cricket on the Hearth, Dan in John Bull, MacDunnum of Dunnum in A School for Scheming, Scrub in The Beaux' Stratagem and Golightly in Lend Me Five Shillings, several Shakespeare roles. For the Adelphi, he wrote The Green Bushes and The Flowers of the Forest, both in 1847, he dramatised The Last Days of Pompeii.
He returned to the Haymarket in 1848, writing and playing in An Alarming Sacrifice, Leap Year and A Serious Family. During this period, he memorably played Moses in Stirling Coyne's adaptation of The Vicar of Wakefield, Appleface in Jerrold's Catspaw, Shadowly Softhead in Lord Lytton's Not as Bad as We Seem and in many Shakespeare productions with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, he became lessee of the Haymarket from 1853 to 1877. For this theatre, he continued to write farces, though markedly fewer than before; as manager of the Haymarket, he surrounded himself with an admirable and effective ensemble company, including Edward Askew Sothern, Henry Compton, Mr. and Mrs. Charles James Mathews and the Kendals, he produced the plays of James Planché, Thomas William Robertson, Tom Taylor, John Oxenford, H. J. Byron and W. S. Gilbert, as well as his own, in most of these he acted. Buckstone's management made the Haymarket into the premier comedy theatre of the age. Buckstone's own gifts in comedy contributed much to the theatre's remarkable success.
According to The Times, "Few men... have possessed to a greater extent the power of communicating the spirit of mirth to an audience.... He was helped, too, in his vocation by remarkable physical attributes" and a peculiar, hilarious voice. In the 1850s, Buckstone produced An Unequal Match and Taylor's The Overland Route, A Hero of Romance by Westland Marston, Home by Robertson. In 1862, Buckstone produced a 496-night run of Our American Cousin, with Sothern in his most famous role as Lord Dundreary. Robertson's David Garrick was a hit in 1864 with Sothern in the title role. W. S. Gilbert premiered seven of his plays at the Haymarket during this time including his blank verse "fairy comedies" starring the Kendals, such as The Palace of Truth and Galatea and The Wicked World. Buckstone produced Gilbert's dramas and Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith, as well as his 1877 farce Engaged. In 1873 Buckstone introduced the innovation of matinées starting at 2.00 pm. By the mid-1870s, Buckstone's company was disbanding, in 1877, ill and bankrupt after sustaining heavy losses, he gave up management of the theatre.
Buckstone was first married in 1828 to Anne Maria Honeyman, with whom he had at least five children before she died in 1844. For many years, Buckstone was associated with the actress Fanny Copeland Fitzwilliam, widowed in 1852 and whom he was engaged to marry in 1854, she died of
Charing Cross
Charing Cross
