Edward Sloman Saker (30 September 1838 – 29 March 1883) was a British

actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...

. He was assisted in all things by his wife Emily Saker.

Life

Saker was born in Bethnal Green in London, son of William Saker, a well-known low comedian at London minor theatres and later a tobacconist and news-vendor. Edward's elder brother Horatio Saker (1824–1861) also became an actor. He was placed with a firm of architects, but early showed a strong taste for a theatrical career, which he adopted when about twenty-five years of age. Moonshine-Saker-Brough-Box-Cox-1883

In 1857 he joined a theatre company in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, then under the management of Robert Henry Wyndham, his brother-in-law. He learnt his profession here, and soon became a useful member of the company; he was also treasurer of the company for several years. He made a tour in Scotland with

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

, when the latter played

Robert Macaire Robert Macaire is a fictional character, an unscrupulous swindler, who appears in a number of French plays, films, and other works of art. In French culture he represents an archetypal villain. He was principally the creation of an actor, Frédér ...

(in Charles Selby's play of that name) to Saker's Jacques Strop. With

Lionel Brough Lionel "Lal" Brough (10 March 1836 – 8 November 1909) was a British actor and comedian. After beginning a journalistic career and performing as an amateur, he became a professional actor, performing mostly in Liverpool during the mid-1860s. He ...

he also gave an entertainment, under the name of ''The So-Amuse Twins''. He first attempted management during a summer season in 1862, when he rented the Edinburgh Royal from Wyndham, and opened with ''The Lady of the Lake''. In 1865 he moved to Liverpool, and after two years there as an actor he became manager of the Alexandra Theatre in December 1867, and remained as manager until his death on 29 March 1883. On 16 February 1874 he married Emily O'Brien (1847–1912), an actress who had joined the company of the Alexandra Theatre in 1872. Her stage name was Marie O'Berne, and she was known as a comedian. After their marriage, they first appeared together at the Alexandra in Thomas Morton's farce ''A Roland for an Oliver'', opening on 2 March 1874. As an actor Saker was most successful in parts requiring drollery and facial expression. His Shakespearean clowns were notable examples of low-comedy acting. However, he made his chief reputation as a manager. His period of management at the Alexandra, Liverpool, was rendered notable by a series of revivals of Shakespearean plays, including ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some crit ...

'', ''

Much Ado about Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

'', '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. ...

'' In all his undertakings he was ably assisted by his wife, who survived him.

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saker, Edward 1838 births 1883 deaths 19th-century English male actors English male stage actors Actor-managers 19th-century theatre managers