Samuel+Reddish

Samuel Reddish (1735-January 1786) was an English actor and theater manager.

Reddish was born in Fromme, Somerset. He was born to a tradesman. Reddish was highly educated, having attended Fromme Grammar school until he was apprenticed to a surgeon at fifteen years old. Through Reddish’s memoirs, published in Covent Garden Magazine in 1773, it has been said that he ran away to Norwich Theatre where he took small roles in plays for a salary of 15s a week.
 * __Early Life__ **

He was later employed by the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin, followed by a year in Edinburgh. By November 1761, Reddish was back in Dublin at the Smock Alley Theatre. For the next five years, he circulated between Norwich Theatre and the Theatre Royal. The following season he returned to Smock Alley “with a Mrs Reddish, possibly Polly Hart, an actress who had played briefly at Drury Lane” (Milling). On September 18th, 1767, Reddish made his Drury Lane debut, playing Lord Townley from The Provok’d Husband. From that point on, Reddish played winter seasons at Drury Lane for ten years. His weekly earnings increased year on year from “1773, £8 for a week; in 1775, £10; in 1776–77, £11, and in 1777–78, £12” (Highfall, et al. 284). Reddish also had income from his summers as actor-manager at Bristol.
 * __Career__ **

Reddish’s fellow actor, Charles Macklin, wrote a forceful letter to George Colman in which he expressed that he wanted to and was going to play “Richard [III], Macbeth, Lear; and other Parts, such as will suit [his] time of life, in new and revived tragedies” (Goring 6). However, a talented actor by the name of Mr. Garrick had been playing Macbeth to enormous acclaim since the 1740s. During this time, there was a traditional, but informal, understanding (dating from the late seventeenth century) that actors had an “informal entitlement to roles in which they had proven themselves able” (Goring 6). And although Garrick was struggling with declining health, and as co-manager of Drury Lane, he was giving many of his more demanding roles to other actors—Samuel Reddish included, he had played Macbeth at Drury Lane since the previous spring—but Garrick was still seen to have set an undisputable standard for the role and there was no guarantee that he would not reprise his role. Nonetheless, William ‘Gentleman’ Smith, a well-respected actor, had been playing the likes of Richard III and Macbeth; but it was agreed that Macklin and Smith would alternate the roles. Macklin furthered the uneasiness by also insisting upon overseeing production, in violation of another theater tradition at the time. With all this, come opening night of Macbeth, on October 23, 1773, tensions, expectations, and audiences showed a great mix of emotion. As soon as Macklin set foot on the stage, hissing began. The first hiss was observed, according to Macklin’s wife and two friends, with no assurance as coming from James Sparks, the son of an actor, or Samuel Reddish. The performance continued and turned out to be well received despite random bouts of hissing throughout the play. Writers both pro- and anti- Macklin and Macklin himself fueled the incident with articles in newspapers accusing both Sparks and Reddish of initiating the hissing at Macklin; “Mr. Macklin said, that in less than a week’s time he would lay the proofs in support of the charge before the Tribunal of the Public” (Goring 9). Reddish appeared in many newspapers defending his name. In an affidavit written to the Universal Evening Post, Reddish responds to the allegation by announcing that he has been “falsely accused...of heading a party to hiss and disconcert [Macklin]” (Universal Evening Post). The article written by Reddish continues on: “I do therefore solemnly declare and make oath that I went to the play on Saturday...the 23rd of October, accompanied with Mr. James Sparks...that I neither hissed or shewed, any other public mark of disapprobation during the whole performance, nor was I spoken to by any [one]...but Mr. James Sparks” (Middlesex Journal). Reddish confirmed that he was at the play but denies having taken part in any sort of hissing that he was accused of. He even takes so far as to “challenge Mr. Macklin, notwithstanding his declaration, to produce any person of credit to prove the contrary” (Middlesex Journal). As proof of his own innocence in the matter, Reddish does just as he has challenged Macklin to do: he finds a credible person to support his claim that he never hissed at Macklin, or incited any hissing. In the way Sparks retells the events, Reddish actually asks Sparks to refrain from hissing, but is somehow accused instead of participating in the act. Sparks wrote an oath in which he admits he “once hissed, and once only, and thought [himself] justifiable in disapproving a ridiculous circumstance that occurred...Mr. Reddish warmly requested on his account [Sparks’] forbearance” (Middlesex Journal, Oct. 31). After Macklin does not in any way support his claims, Reddish writes to him through the Morning Chronicles on November 8th, 1773: “The most partial of your friends, has not waited with more impatience for the positive proofs you promised to give the public of my guilt, than I have done. Conscious of my entire innocence of your charge against me, I have desisted from producing many unsolicited testimonies of undoubted credit in my justification...Had you been able to procure any positive proofs of your charge against me, those proofs should have been immediately laid before the public” (Middlesex Journal, Nov. 8) With the lack of proof, Macklin undoubtedly had to let go of any allegations made against Reddish. Macklin continued the case with other actors of Covent Garden but not with Reddish, as any evidence or testimony of Reddish hissing was not likely to arise.
 * __The Macklin-Macbeth Controversy__ **

** __Plays Appeared In__ ** A few of the many roles Reddish appeared as include: “Lord Townley” in The Provok'd Husband;“Bajazet” in Tamerlane; “Belcour” in The West Indian; “Bevil” in The Conscious Lovers; “Antonio” in The Merchant of Venice; “Duke of Braganza” in Braganza; “Alonzo” in The Revenge; “Macbeth” in Macbeth; “Young Belmont” in The Foundling; “Orlando” in As You Like It; “Posthumus” in Cymbeline; “Iago” in Othello; “Alexander” in The Rival Queens; and many more. Overall, Reddish never achieved the fame and popularity that he hoped to. Critics of the era showed uncertainty on his abilities as an actor. Generally, he excelled in roles where he played “young, sentimental heroes, beaus, and noblemen” (Highfall, et. al. 284). Some of those roles included: Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Raymond in The Countess of Salisbury, Lord Aimworth in The Maid of the Mill, Lothario in The Fair Penitent, Richmond in Richard III, Jaffeir in Venice Preserv'd, Falkland in The Rivals, Young Fashion in A Trip to Scarborough, and other plays of the sorts. One critic from The Dramatic Censor “(1770) thought that as Macduff he demonstrated 'superior strength and beauty: his feelings are manly, yet tender; spirited without excess'” (Milling). However, the same critic felt that as Alonzo in The Revenge, he showed " deficient in powers for the most impassioned speeches, [but he had] … more equality of merit, and [was] … more agreeable than his predecessors" (Highfill, et al 285). Thomas Davies remembered that Reddish had given satisfactory performances roles such as the Duke of Braganza, “without being either elegant or striking in figure or very handsome, because he spoke with ‘taste’” (Highfill, et al 285). But still, Davies found that even through acting out joy, grief, love, or jealousy, Reddish gave a great smile which turned out to be his greatest flaw. Reddish also seemed to be a shameless self-promoter. Reddish took the matter of being accused of being such very seriously and even took to calling an anonymous writer by the name of Hotspur, “a murderer, a [liar],..a coward” that was “villainously endeavoured to deprive [Reddish] of [his] character as a man,” (Middlesex Journal, Jan. 1774) for accusing him of “being his own insistent panegyrist and traducer of his fellow actors” (Highfall, et al. 285) a few months after the Macbeth controversy. However, Reddish also commissioned from painter Robert Edge Pine “a portrait of himself as Posthumus in Cymbeline, ‘for the sake of handing down to posterity such uncommon merit’” (Milhouse 39). The painting was said to cost him about £68 5s., making it “a major investment for someone whose salary...would yield £189,” (Milhouse 39) within a 31 week season. Reddish seemed to have been hoping that the portrait would increase his popularity, and making a rather large bet on himself. Unfortunately, the portrait did not have the effect he hoped it would on his popularity. In 1775, William Hawkins wrote, “Till Mr Reddish can divest himself of a stiff, heavy figure, a set face, and a broken monotony of voice. … with all the vanity he may possess himself with, he never will be able to fill a first form, at least not at [Drury Lane]” (Highfall, et al. 285). Reddish possessed all the confidence in his skill, but did not always show the skill that he felt he had. Surely, many of his peers considered him arrogant. Some of his peers recall him acting delusionally. During a performance of The Old Bachelor, Reddish was booed off the stage. He wrote an article in which he said that he only had “two regular rehearsals…[and] had never play’d in, never seen, or ever read the Old Bachelor” (Morning Post Nov. 1776) previous to only a few days before the show, a lie that he was later forced to retract. His peers began to feel he was going mad. William Parsons wrote that Reddish had fallen down "and continued long in a fit eight days ago, and has not been able to perform since his arrival here. His countenance undergoes the most sudden alterations. His memory fails him" (Highfall, et al 286). A friend of Reddish, John Ireland, recounts that after a disastrous benefit night, Reddish arrived at the theatre under the false impression he was to play Romeo when he was supposed to play Posthumus in Cymbeline. Ireland recalls: “'The instant he came in sight of the audience his recollection seemed to return ... it was only the stage that had the power to unsettle this delusion” (Highfill, et al. 286). These were the beginning signs of Reddish’s mental illness.
 * __Reviews by His Contemporaries__ **

The performance described by John Ireland was Samuel Reddish’s last performance. Previous to his death, he had applied for assistance from the Drury Lane to support his wife and three surviving children by Mary Ann Canning. They were granted that assistance for a period of time. Eventually Reddish disappeared from the public eyes for several years before his death at York Asylum on December 17th, 1786, according to European Magazine’s obituaries.
 * __Death__ **

__ Works Cited: __

Goring, Paul. "Theatrical Riots and Conspiracies in London and Edinburgh: Charles Macklin, James Fennell and the Rights of Actors and Audiences." Theatrical Riots and Conspiracies in London and Edinburgh: Charles Macklin, James Fennell and the Rights of Actors and Audiences. The Review of English Studies Advance Access, 30 Nov. 2015. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

Highfill, Philip H., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans. "A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800: Pinner to Rizzo." Google Books. Carbondale, Ill : Southern Illinois University Press., 1987. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.

Middlesex Journal or Universal Evening Post (London, England), October 30, 1773 - November 2, 1773; Issue 717. 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.

Middlesex Journal or Universal Evening Post (London, England), November 6 1773 - November 9, 1773; Issue 720. 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.

Milhous, Judith. “Picturing Dance in Eighteenth-Century England.” Music in Art, vol. 36, no. 1/2, 2011, pp. 29–52.

Milling, J.. “Reddish, Samuel (1735–1785).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. David Cannadine. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 2 Nov. 2016.

Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (London, England), Tuesday, January 18, 1774; Issue 1452. 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.

Morning Post and London Advertiser (London, England), Saturday, November 23 1776; Issue 1274. 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.

Philological Society of Great Britain. The European Magazine, and London Review. Vol. 9. London: Philological Society of London, 1786. Print.