English Heritage Blue Plaque for Ira Aldridge, ‘The African Roscius’
Shakespearian actor and pioneering figure in the world of theatre Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) has been commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at 5 Hamlet Road, Upper Norwood, London SE19.
This was Aldridge’s final home which he named ‘Luranah Villa’ after his mother. As one of the outstanding interpreters of Shakespeare of his age, Aldridge was dubbed ‘The African Roscius’, after the great Roman actor. He was the first black actor known to have played the role of Othello in London and was also widely recognised for taking on parts that hitherto had been the domain of white actors, including Shylock, Richard III and King Lear. His dramatic style combined with his naturalistic and uncompromisingly physical stage presence earned him a reputation as the ‘Celebrated American Tragedian’. One journal, The Era, commented that Aldridge’s appearance on stage was ‘a great moral lesson in favour of Anti-Slavery’.
Aldridge was born in New York City in 1807, the son of Daniel Aldridge, a labourer and lay preacher, and his wife Luranah. He attended the African Free School in Lower Manhattan and it was there that he started to develop an interest in acting. His first role was Rolla in Kotzebue’s Pizarro at the African Theatre, which was swiftly followed by an appearance in Romeo and Juliet. However, protests at African-Americans taking to the stage put pressure on the company and forced its closure. It became obvious that Aldridge, as an African-American, would struggle to obtain major roles in his native country, and at the age of seventeen he left for Britain.
Aldridge made his London debut on 11 May 1825 as Othello at the Royalty Theatre in Whitechapel, his first recorded performance of the role. He then appeared at the Royal Coburg Theatre (now the Old Vic) on 10 October 1825, playing Oronooko in The Revolt of Surinam (A Slave’s Revenge). His acting met with a mixed reception; some members of the audience were openly hostile and a review in The Times attacked his pronunciation owing to ‘the shape of his lips’. Despite such criticism, Aldridge’s run was extended by the Royal Coburg’s manager, George Davidge, and in December 1825 he played Othello at the Theatre Royal, Brighton. Aldridge spent the next eight years playing both tragic parts such as Othello and Oronooko and comic characters such as Mungo in Isaac Bickerstaffe’s The Padlock. In 1826 his portrait as Othello was painted by Henry Perronet Briggs and exhibited at the Royal Academy, a clear indication of his growing celebrity.
A vital moment in Aldridge’s career came when he was chosen to replace the fatally ill Edmund Kean, who had collapsed whilst playing Othello at the Covent Garden Theatre. Aldridge’s acting was praised for its ‘wondrous versatility’ and his two performances were enthusiastically applauded by the audience. However, the press remained hostile and continued to criticise his acting on racial grounds. At a time when the bill to abolish slavery was passing through Parliament, the theatre bowed to the critics and cancelled his remaining engagements, forcing Aldridge to return once more to the provincial acting circuit.
Over the next nineteen years, Aldridge diversified his roles and, donning wigs and white make-up, moved on to perform traditionally non-black parts such as Macbeth, Shylock and King Lear. By the time that he performed again in London, in the late 1840s, his reputation was assured and the press were unanimous in their praise
Aldridge continued adding plays to his repertoire, mastering sixty roles in total. In July 1852, he embarked on the first of many continental tours and was met with rapturous receptions throughout his three-year journey through Belgium, Prussia and Austria-Hungary. Subsequent tours to Sweden and Russia proved equally successful and he became the first actor to perform Shakespeare in the Russian provinces. He received numerous honours abroad, including the gold medal of the Prussian Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Saxon knighthood. Aldridge died whilst on tour in Łodz, Poland, in August 1867.
NOTES TO EDITORS
- History of the Blue Plaques Scheme – The Blue Plaques Scheme has been running for 140 years. The idea of erecting 'memorial tablets' was first proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863. It had an immediate impact on the public imagination, and in 1866 the Society of Arts (later Royal Society of Arts) founded an official plaques scheme. The Society erected its first plaque – to poet, Lord Byron – in 1867. The Blue Plaques Scheme was subsequently administered by the London County Council (1901-65) and by the Greater London Council (1965-86).
- Since 1986, English Heritage has managed the Blue Plaques Scheme. English Heritage Blue Plaques commemorate the achievements of a vast range of figures from different countries, cultures and backgrounds – people as varied as Sir Winston Churchill, Jimi Hendrix, Agatha Christie and Sigmund Freud. So far, English Heritage has erected around 250 plaques, bringing the total number to over 800.
- The Blue Plaques Scheme is driven by public suggestion. In order to be eligible for consideration by the Blue Plaques Panel, a person must meet certain basic criteria: they must have been dead for twenty years or have passed the centenary of their birth, and a building associated with them must survive. English Heritage welcomes all nominations which meet these criteria. For more information, call 020 7973 3794 or see our website: www.english-heritage.org.uk/blueplaques
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