James Albery (4 May 1838 – 15 August 1889) was an English

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Life and career

Albery was born in London. On leaving school he entered an architect's office and started to write plays. His

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

''A Pretty Piece of Chiselling'' was given its first production by the Ingoldsby Club in 1864. After some failures, his adaptation, ''Dr Davy'', was produced at the

Lyceum Theatre, London The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand in central London. It has a seating capacity of 2,100. The origins of the theatre date to 1765. Managed by Samuel Arnold ...

(1866). His most successful piece, ''Two Roses'', a comedy, was produced at the

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...

in 1870, in which

Sir 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 ( ...

made one of his earliest London successes as Digby Grant. The production ran for 300 performances. Albery was the author of a large number of other plays and adaptations, including ''Coquettes'' (1870); ''Pickwick'', a four-act drama (based on

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

's ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...

'' (1871); '' The Pink Dominos'' (1877), a

that ran for an extremely successful 555 performances and was one of a series of adaptations from the French which he made for the

Criterion Theatre The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...

, where his wife, the actress and theatrical manager Mary Moore (who after his death became Lady Wyndham (1861–1931)), played the leading parts; ''Jingle'' (a farcical version of ''Pickwick''), produced at the Lyceum in 1878; and ''Oriana'' (with music by

Frederic Clay Frederic Emes Clay (3 August 1838 – 24 November 1889) was an English composer known principally for songs and his music written for the stage. Although from a musical family, for 16 years Clay made his living as a civil servant in HM Treasury ...

). His one-act

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

, '' The Spectre Knight'', with music by

Alfred Cellier Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing th ...

, ran as a companion piece to

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

's ''

The Sorcerer ''The Sorcerer'' is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of ''The Sorcerer'' is based on a Christmas story, ''An Elixir of Lo ...

'' and then ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

'' at the

Opera Comique The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street, Holywell Street and the Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway. ...

in 1878 and on tour. Albery also wrote a book called ''Where's the Cat?'' in 1880. Albery and Moore had three sons: Irving, who became a Conservative Member of Parliament, Bronson, a theatre director after whom the

Albery Theatre Albery is a name. It may refer to: ;People by given name *Albery Allson Whitman (1851−1901), African American poet, minister and orator ;People by surname: * A. S. Albery, British politician *Bronson Albery (1881−1971), English theatre directo ...

is named, and Wyndham, a socialist activist. Their granddaughter through Irving was Jessica Albery (1908–1990) an architect and town planner, one of the first professional women architects in the UK. Albery wrote this epitaph for himself:

References

Sources

*Albery's plays are collected in a two-volume edition at the British Library at 2303 f. 14. *''The Dramatic Works of James Albery'', together with a sketch of his career, correspondence bearing thereon, press notices, casts, etc. 2 Volumes. Peter Davies, London, 1939.

External links

Midis and cast list for ''The Spectre Knight''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Albery, James 1838 births 1889 deaths People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan Writers from London English male dramatists and playwrights Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights 19th-century British male writers