Boucicault, DION

Boucicault, DION, dramatist and actor, was born at Dublin, 26th December 1822. He was educated at University College, London, and in 1841 produced his first drama, London Assurance, before he was nineteen years old. It was signally successful, and its success determined his career. Once embarked in the career of a play-writer, Boucicault produced piece after piece in rapid succession, in comedy, farce, and melodrama. When he went upon the stage he secured a high reputation as an actor. From 1853 till 1860 he was in America. On his return to England in 1860, he produced The Colleen Bawn, the first of several popular Irish dramas which proved among the most successful of modern times. This was followed by Arrah-na-Pogue (1864), and The Shaughraun (1875). The popularity of another 'sensation' drama, The Octoron (1861), was inferior only to that of The Colleen Bawn. For a time he was joint-manager of the Adelphi, and in 1862 opened a new theatre in London, the Westminster, but was ruined by the speculation. He afterwards re-established his fortunes by new plays, in some of which he and his wife took the leading parts. The Streets of London, Flying Scud, and After Dark were the most notable of his later works, all of which are of the 'sensation' school, with which, it may be said, he first familiarised the public. He wrote more than 140 original pieces and adaptations. In 1876 he went to live in New York, but in 1887 visited England, taking part in one of his own plays, The Jilt. He died at New York, 18th September 1890.