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{{Short description|English manager, actor and playwright (1846–1904)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name            = Wilson Barrett
| image           = Barrett Wilson.jpg
| imagesize       = 
| alt             =
| birth_name       = William Henry Barrett
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1846|2|18}}
| birth_place      = [[Essex]], [[England]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1904|7|22|1846|2|18}}
| death_place      = [[London]], England
| years_active     =
| occupation     = [[Actor-manager]], [[actor]], [[playwright]]
| spouse          = Caroline Heath (m. 1866)
}}
'''Wilson Barrett''' (born '''William Henry Barrett'''; 18 February 1846 – 22 July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright. With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his success with [[melodrama]], an instance being his production of ''[[The Silver King (play)|The Silver King]]'' (1882) at the [[Princess's Theatre, London|Princess's Theatre]] of [[London]]. The historical [[tragedy]] ''[[The Sign of the Cross (play)|The Sign of the Cross]]'' (1895) was Barrett's most successful play, both in England and in the United States.

==Biography==

===1880s===
[[File:Claudian - Weir Collection.jpg|thumb|250px|Barrett's production of Claudian at the [[Royal Lyceum Theatre]], Edinburgh]]
[[File:Hoodman blind - Weir Collection.jpg|250px|thumb|Poster for Hoodman blind]]
Barrett was born into a farming family in [[Essex]]. He is remembered as an actor of handsome appearance (despite his small stature) and with a powerful voice. He made his first appearance on the stage at [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] in 1864, and then played in the provinces alone and with his wife, [[Caroline Heath]], in ''[[East Lynne]]''. They married in 1866, having two sons, Frank and Alfred, and three daughters, Ellen, Katherine and Dorothea (Dollie).

Barrett capitalized on his early success as an actor to start a career as a producer.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:C7Qgpb0JuwgJ:www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_63020_en.pdf+barrett+The.Sign.of.the.Cross&hl=en Theatre study on Victorian Theatre], from the [[University of Glasgow]]</ref> After managerial experience at the [[Grand Theatre Leeds]] and elsewhere, in 1879 he took over the management of the [[Royal Court Theatre#The first theatre|Old Court theatre]],<ref>{{Citation
  |first=George
  |last=Wilman
  |title=Sketches of living celebrities
  |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=alwBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA42
  |year=1882
  |publisher=Griffith and Farran
  |location=London
  |page=42
  |chapter=Wilson Barrett}}</ref> where in the following year he introduced Madame [[Helena Modjeska]] to London in an adaptation of ''Maria Stuart'' (by [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]]), together with productions of ''Adrienne Lecouvreur'', ''La Dame aux camélias'' and other plays.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-RoyalCourtTheatre.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091208135802/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-RoyalCourtTheatre.html| archive-date = 2009-12-08| title = Royal Court Theatre – Guide to Royal Court Theatre {{!}} Encyclopedia.com: Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre}}</ref>

In 1881, Wilson Barrett took over the recently refurbished [[Princess's Theatre, London|Princess's Theatre]], where his melodramatic productions enjoyed great success (if not quite as much as before), with attendance being the highest ever for this theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Princess.htm|title=The Royal Princess's Theatre, 73 Oxford street, London|website=arthurlloyd.co.uk|access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref> There Barrett presented ''[[The Lights o' London]]'', and then ''[[The Silver King (play)|The Silver King]]'', regarded as the most successful [[melodrama]] of the 19th century in England. It debuted on 16 November 1882, with Barrett as Wilfred Denver. He played this part for three hundred nights without a break, and repeated its success in [[W. G. Wills]]'s ''Claudian''.

In 1885 he and [[Henry Arthur Jones]] produced ''[[Hoodman Blind (play)|Hoodman Blind]]'' and in 1886 co-operated with [[Clement Scott]] in ''Sister Mary''. In 1886 Barrett left the Princess's Theatre, and in this same year he made a visit to America, repeated in later years.

In 1884 Barrett had appeared in ''[[Hamlet]]'', only to promptly return to melodrama. He was not to find much success in any [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearian]] role, apart from [[Mercutio]] in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''.

Though Barrett had occasional seasons in London he acted chiefly in the provinces, with his company being one of the most successful of the decade, receiving a [[Pound sterling|£]]2,000 average yearly profit just from the [[Grand Theatre Leeds]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdeCMTjYHDsC&q=1846+wilson.barrett&pg=PA393|title=The Mid-Victorian Generation, 1846-1886|first=K. Theodore|last=Hoppen|date=6 June 2000|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198731993|access-date=6 June 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref> His brother and his nephew were part of the company, and his grandson would join them eventually.

Barrett was the producer of the performance of ''[[The Romany Rye (play)|The Romany Rye]]'' which on its opening night turned into the [[Exeter Theatre Royal fire]], which was the deadliest theatre incident in UK history, killing 186 people.<ref>Anderson, David (2002). The Exeter Theatre Fire. Entertainment Technology Press.</ref>

According to [[Jacob Pavlovich Adler|Jacob Adler]], Wilson Barrett was the most famous actor on the [[London]] stage of the 1880s.

===1890s: ''The Sign of the Cross''===
[[File:BARRETT(1899) p009.jpg|200px|thumb|Wilson Barrett and [[Maud Jeffries]]: ''The Sign of the Cross'' (1895)]]
By the 1890s, the London stage was already coming under new influences, and Wilson Barrett's vogue in melodrama had waned, leaving him in financial difficulties. From 1894 he toured the United States, including the ''[[American Music Hall|American]]'' and ''[[Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)|Knickerbocker]]'' theatres of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]].

Still there in 1895, Barrett found fortune again with a production <ref name="losttheaters" /> which would effectively become his most successful, the historical [[tragedy]] ''[[The Sign of the Cross (play)|The Sign of the Cross]]''—which was originally produced in the United States at the Grand Opera House, [[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]] on 28 March 1895;<ref>[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063624/1895-03-29/ed-1/seq-2.pdf Wilson Barrett’s New Play, ''Kansas City Daily Journal'', (Friday, 29 March 1895), p.2].</ref> in the United Kingdom, at the [[Grand Theatre, Leeds]], on 26 August 1895;<ref>"The Sign of the Cross", ''The Era'', (31 August 1895), p.11.</ref> in London, at the [[Lyric Theatre, London]] on 4 January 1896;<ref>Lyric Theatre: "The Sign of the Cross", ''The (London) Sunday Times'', (Sunday, 4 January 1896), p.5.</ref> and in Australia, at [[Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney]] on 8 May 1897<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126249375 Before the Curtain, ''The (Sydney) Sunday Times'', (Sunday, 9 May 1897), p.2].</ref>—in which Barrett played Marcus Superbus, an old [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] of the years of [[Nero]], who falls in love with a young woman, Mercia (originally played by [[Maud Jeffries]]) and converts to Christianity for her, both sacrificing their lives in the [[Amphitheatre|arena]] to the [[lion]]s. The plot in some ways strongly resembles the contemporary novel ''[[Quo Vadis (novel)|Quo Vadis]]'', and it may have been an unofficial adaptation of it, though Barrett never acknowledged this.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

The theatre was crowded with audiences largely composed of people outside the ordinary circle of playgoers, shepherded by enthusiastic local clergymen.<ref name="losttheaters" /> Barrett tried to repeat this success with more plays of a religious type, though not with equal effect, and several of his later attempts were failures.

At the turn of the century he co-founded the company which became [[Waddingtons]], originally as a theatre-focused printing firm.<ref>David Thornton, ''Leeds: A Historical Dictionary of People, Places and Events'' (Huddersfield: Northern Heritage Publications, 2013), s.v. ''WADDINGTONS''.</ref>

===Death===
Wilson Barrett died in a nursing home in London on 22 July 1904. Thanks largely to the success of the ''Sign of the Cross'', he left £57,000, even after periods of relative failure, mainly during his later years managing the Old Court Theatre.<ref name="losttheaters">[https://books.google.com/books?id=5AQ71r_JC6YC&dq=Hoodman.Blind+wilson.barrett&pg=PA176 London's lost theatres], at [[Google Books]]</ref> His grandson, also named Wilson Barrett, became an actor director with the Brandon-Thomas Company before starting his own repertory in 1939, the Wilson Barrett Company, which based itself in Edinburgh's Lyceum, Glasgow at the [[Alhambra Theatre Glasgow]] and for a time in Aberdeen. It also performed on television, at the Edinburgh International Festival and, by invitation, in South Africa. The company was retired in 1954.

=== Archives ===
Barrett's descendants placed the majority of Wilson Barrett's papers at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]. Over thirty boxes of materials include manuscript works by Barrett, business and personal correspondence, extensive financial records and legal agreements, as well as photographs, playbills and programs relating to Barrett's productions, and Barrett and Heath family papers. Additional Wilson Barrett materials at the Ransom Center include letters by Barrett located in the literary manuscript collections of [[Richard Le Gallienne]], [[John Ruskin]], [[William Winter (author)|William Winter]], and [[Robert Lee Wolff]]. The B. J. Simmons Co. costume design records include the company's renderings for ''The Sign of the Cross''. A marked script of Barrett's ''The Manxman'' can be found in the Playscripts and Promptbooks Collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01178|title=Wilson Barrett: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center|website=norman.hrc.utexas.edu|others=Barrett, Caroline, 1835-1887., Barrett, Wilson, 1846-1904., Barrett, Wilson, 1900-1981., Caine, Hall, Sir, 1853-1931., French, Samuel, 1821-1898., Greet, William, 1851-1914.|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref>

The [[British Library]], the [[Folger Shakespeare Library]], and the [[University of Leeds]] Special Collections Library each have a substantial number of letters by Wilson Barrett. The [[Victoria and Albert Museum|Victoria & Albert Museum]] Theatre and Performance Archives holds designs by [[Edward William Godwin]] for Barrett's productions of ''Juana'', ''Claudian'', ''Hamlet'', ''Junius'', and ''Clito''. The papers of Wilson Barrett the younger (1900-1981), a grandson of Wilson Barrett who was also an actor-manager and toured with his own Wilson Barrett Company, are located in the Scottish Theatre Archive at the [[University of Glasgow]].

==Works==

===Theatre management===
*[[Grand Theatre Leeds]], 1878-1895
*[[Royal Court Theatre#The first theatre|Old Court theatre]], 1879
*[[Princess's Theatre, London|Princess's Theatre]], 1881–1886
*[[Olympic Theatre (London)|Olympic Theatre]] (London), 1890–1891.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~a0fs000/1800/0409.html|title = The Olympic Theatre Page}}</ref>

===Playwright===
*''Sister Mary'' (1880s)
*''[[Hoodman Blind (play)|Hoodman Blind]]'' (1885), with [[Henry Arthur Jones]]
*''[[Good Old Times]]'' (1889), with [[Hall Caine]]
*''[[Ben-My-Chree]]'' (1889), an adaptation of Hall Caine's ''[[The Deemster]]'', with Caine
*''[[Clito (play)|Clito]]'', with [[Sydney Grundy]]
*''[[The Manxman (novel)#Adaptations|The Manxman]]'' (1894), an adaptation of Hall Caine's novel
*''[[Romany Rye (play)|Romany Rye]]''
*''[[The Sign of the Cross (play)|The Sign of the Cross]]'' (1895)
*''[[Lucky Durham]]''

====Later adaptations====
In 1932, [[Cecil B. DeMille]] produced and directed a highly successful film version of ''[[The Sign of the Cross (1932 film)|The Sign of the Cross]]'', starring [[Fredric March]] as [[centurion]] Marcus Superbus, [[Claudette Colbert]] as [[Poppea]], [[Charles Laughton]] as [[Nero]], and [[Elissa Landi]] as Mercia, the Christian woman with whom Marcus falls in love.

===Acting===
*''The Silver King'' (1882)
*''Hamlet'', ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Othello''
*''The Sign of the Cross'' (1895)
*''Claudian, Ben-My-Chree, Virginius, The Manxman'' (1898)<ref>{{Cite web|date=1898|title=Mr Wilson Barrett's farewell to Melbourne|url=http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER2951272|access-date=6 October 2020|website=State Library Victoria (Australia)|publisher=William Marshall & Co|type=Theatre programme}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barrett, Wilson}}
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14158669 Wilson Barrett's Arrival: Proposed New Productions: Story of a Famous Play, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Monday, 6 December 1897), pp.5-6].
* [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EsATAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Vb8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4150%2C1164346 R.W.B., "Stage Prejudice Broken: Wilson Barrett's 'Sign of the Cross'", ''The Age Literary Section'', (Saturday, 24 January 1948), p.6].
* [https://archive.org/details/signcross00barrgoog Barrett, W. ''The Sign of the Cross'', J.B. Lippincott Company, (Philadelphia), 1896]: Barrett's [[Novelization|novelized]] version of his play.
* [http://access.bl.uk/item/pdf/lsidyv34efa134 Barrett, W., ''The Wilson Barrett Birthday Book: Illustrated'', W. & D. Downey, (London), 1899].
* [http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au//exlibris/dtl/d3_1/apache_media/L2V4bGlicmlzL2R0bC9kM18xL2FwYWNoZV9tZWRpYS8zMjc5OTkw.pdf ''Mr. Wilson Barrett's Farewell to Melbourne (Souvenir Theatre Programme)'', Princess Theatre, Melbourne, 21 May 1898.]
* [https://archive.org/stream/melodramaplotsth00dish#page/114/mode/2up Disher, M.W., "Sex and Salvation: ''The Sign Of The Cross''", pp.115-124 in Disher, M.W., ''Melodrama: Plots that Thrilled'', The Macmillan Company, (New York), 1954].
* [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw, G.B.]], "Mainly About Shakespeare", [https://archive.org/stream/saturdayreviewof8318unse#page/603/mode/1up ''The Saturday Review'', Vol.83, No.2170, (29 May 1897), pp.603-605.].
* [https://www.academia.edu/14921764/Wilson_Barretts_New-School_Othello_ Thomas, J., "Wilson Barrett's New School 'Othello'", ''The Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin'', New Series No.22, (1983), pp.66-87].
* Thomas, J.M., ''The Art of the Actor-Manager: Wilson Barrett and the Victorian Theatre'', UMI Research Press, (Ann Arbor), 1984. {{ISBN|978-0-8357-1492-1}}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
*[http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01178 Wilson Barrett Papers] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
*{{IMDb name|0057316}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-BarrettWilson.html Biography], at [[Encyclopedia.com]]
*[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?search=as&grp=1071%3BPlaywrights+and+dramatists&lDate=&page=1&LinkID=mp58014 Picture collection], at the [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Wilson}}
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English actor-managers]]
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:19th-century English theatre managers]]