Alfred Bunn
Alfred Bunn(April 8, 1796 inLondon– December 20, 1860 inBoulogne-sur-Mer) was anEnglishtheatrical manager. He was married toMargaret Agnes (née Somerville) Bunn,a minor actress, in 1819.
Biography[edit]
Bunn was appointed stage manager ofDrury Lane Theatre,London, in the year 1823. In 1826, he was managing theTheatre RoyalinBirmingham,and in 1833 he undertook the joint management of Drury Lane andCovent Garden,London. In this undertaking he met with vigorous opposition. A bill for the abolition of the patent theatres was passed in theHouse of Commons,but on Bunn's petition was thrown out by theHouse of Lords.He had difficulties first with his company, then with the lord chamberlain, and had to face the keen rivalry of the other theatres.[1]
A longstanding quarrel withWilliam Charles Macreadyresulted in the tragedian assaulting the manager. In Macready's own words, he walked past Bunn's door and “going up to him as he sat on the other side of the table, I struck him as he rose a backhanded slap across the face. I did not hear what he said, but I dug my fist into him as effectively as I could; he caught hold of me, and got at one time the little finger of my left hand in his mouth, and bit it.”[2]
Bunn also quarreled with the opera singerJenny Lind,the "Swedish Nightingale", over her contract. According to Lind's biographers, Henry Scott Holland and W. S. Rockstro, the singer “was so terrified at the penalties, the law-suits, and the disgrace with which Mrs. Bunn had threatened her, that her dearest and most trusted friends could not persuade her to entertain the idea of appearing at an English theatre, under any circumstances, or upon any terms whatever."[3]The controversy was recorded by Bunn in hisThe Case of Bunn Versus Lind.
In 1840, Bunn was declared a bankrupt, but he continued to manage Drury Lane and theSurrey Theatreuntil 1848 at the age of fifty-two.[1]
Artistically, his control of his English theatres was highly successful. Nearly every leading English actor of the time played under his management, and he made an attempt to establish Englishopera,producing the principal works ofMichael William Balfe.He had some gift for writing, and most of thelibrettiof these operas were translated by him. InThe Stage Before and Behind the Curtain(3 vols., 1840), he gave a full account of his managerial experiences.[1]
InJames Joyce'sUlysses,the main characterLeopold Bloomthinks briefly (and incompletely) of a lyric Bunn wrote: "Whose smile upon each feature plays with such and such replete”. The original lyric, from theWilliam Vincent WallaceoperaMaritana,is: “Whose smile upon each feature plays with truthfulness replete".
Selected plays[edit]
- Kenilworth(1821)
- The Minister and the Mercer(1834)
References[edit]
- ^abcOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Bunn, Alfred".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 799.
- ^Macready, William Charles (1912).The Diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833-1851.New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. pp.380.
- ^Holland, Henry Scott (1891).Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt.London: John Murray. pp.429.
