IRA ALDRIDGE
The Most Accomplished and Forgotten Shakespearean Actor
You might not have heard the name Ira Aldridge, nor seen his picture in a history book. Yet, it seems almost impossible to talk about William Shakespeare without discussing one of history’s greatest Shakespearean actors. Aldridge was an extremely talented performer who gained worldwide fame and made history as the first famous Black actor to play the role of Othello in Shakespeare’s play. He also graced the stage as the leading role in many of Shakespeare’s other famous works.
Aldridge was born in New York in 1807 and began his formal education at the age of 13 at the African Free School. His parents were born of free status and he attended this New York school with both free and enslaved Black children. It was here that Aldridge learned math, science, and English grammar, and was exposed to the plays of William Shakespeare. Upon seeing his first Shakespeare performance at the African Grove Theater, Aldridge became interested in pursuing a career in acting.
The African Grove Theater was a theater operated by a man from the West Indies named William Alexander Brown. The company was composed of Black actors and performed for primarily Black audiences.
Othello is about a military leader in Italy who is often discriminated against for being a Moor (someone who is Black, dark-skinned, or of Islamic faith) and married to a white woman. In the end, Othello is betrayed by his best friend, Iago, and a large majority of the cast dies due to different misunderstandings.
As a young Black performer, it was difficult for Aldridge to find work as an actor with a major theater company. Slavery was still legal in New York during the early 1820s. Although Aldridge was able to gain acting experience with the African Company, he was wasn’t given the opportunities that he desired by most theatre companies in the United States. To expand his career, Aldridge decided to immigrate to Liverpool, England in 1824, hoping to find more acting opportunities abroad.
With little stage training and a lack of experience, Aldridge found it difficult
to land the larger roles he craved even in England, though he could find work as an actor in smaller productions. He was often only allowed to play parts that required Black actors. During his time on stage, he received a lot of abuse from critics because of the color of his skin. More often than not, critics would make hateful comments about his appearance. They would often say that the size of his lips made it difficult for them to understand what he was saying or that his skin color or body type didn’t fit the character that he was portraying.
Despite his critics, Aldridge continued to pursue his acting career, using this criticism as a tool to control how the public saw him.
Aldridge worked hard to craft an entirely new identity for himself. He told those around him that he was Senegal royalty and used his time onstage after the encore to address the public about the abolition of slavery in Great Britain’s colonies and abroad. Upon landing the lead role in Shakespeare’s Othello at the young age of 17, Aldridge’s talent was undeniable. It wasn’t long before English audiences began calling him the “African Roscius.” This was a massive compliment, as Roscius was the name of a famous Roman actor and a nickname given to very talented performers.
Upon playing the role of Othello, Aldridge’s renown rose to incredible heights. It is possible that Aldridge played the role with more authenticity than the white actors before him because he could relate to the oppression faced by the famed character. His performance was likely the first time that many white European audiences saw a Black man play the lead role of a person of color.
Since many theater companies refused to employ people of color, white men would play the roles of Black men, like Othello, with their faces painted black.
Aldridge impressed audiences with his performance, and it wasn’t long before he began touring all over Europe playing the famous Moor.
Even with incredible fame, Aldridge found that roles were limited for actors of color. Rather than only taking the roles of traditionally Black characters, Aldridge would paint his skin white to gain access to parts that were closed off to him because of his skin color.
This was a common practice for many actors of color during this time and enabled Aldridge to find more opportunities to dazzle audiences. Soon, he found himself playing more iconic roles, like Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and the leading roles in King Lear and Macbeth.
After touring all over Great Britain, Europe, and Russia, Aldridge chose to stay in England. He never made arrangements to return to the United States full time. Instead, he was granted English citizenship in 1863 and remained in Europe for the rest of his life. During his time abroad, Aldridge became one of the highest-paid actors in Europe. He received awards from several heads of state and is one of only 33 actors honored with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater.
Even with his impressive accomplishments, Aldridge is often forgotten in history books, and academic information about his life is hard to come by. Yet, Aldridge should be remembered as the greatest Shakespearean actor of all time.
He rose to influence despite living
in a world that participated in the horrific slavery of Black people and became one of the most celebrated Shakespearean actors of the 1800s. Perhaps most significantly, Aldridge used his fame to speak out against injustice and paved the way for actors and actresses of color all over the world.
Historians have found evidence of over 300 Africans living in Britain during Shakespeare’s time. Many of them lived freely in English society and worked as silk weavers, cooks, servants, and interpreters for merchants. John Blanke, a talented musician from Africa, became a royal trumpeter for Henry VII and Henry VIII. This was one of the highest-paid positions a musician could obtain in Tudor England.