Luke Sparks (1711–1768) was an Irish stage actor of the eighteenth century. He was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, the son of a staymaker and brother of Isaac Sparks who also became an actor. His first known role was at the Smock Alley Theatre in 1733. For several years he alternated between Smock Alley and the Ransford Street Theatre, also in Dublin. In 1739 he appeared in London at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

and

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

George Farquhar George Farquhar (1677The explanation for the dual birth year appears in Louis A. Strauss, ed., A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux’ Stratagem by George Farquhar' (Boston: D.C. Heath & Co., 1914), p. v. Strauss notes ...

's ''

The Twin Rivals ''The Twin Rivals'' is a 1702 comedy play by the Irish writer George Farquhar. It was one of the author's least successful plays.Bond & Sherburn p.777 A younger son schemes to cheat his elder brother out of the family estate. The original Drury L ...

''. Returning for Dublin for several years he featured at the new

Aungier Street Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...

. From 1745 to 1748 he was part of the company at Drury Lane, before shifting to Covent Garden in October 1748 where he remained until 1765. By 1761 he was earning £7 a week. He retired in 1765, possibly due health and settled in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.212 His son James Sparks also acted briefly on the London stage.

References

Bibliography

* Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800: Volume VIX''. SIU Press, 1973. Irish male stage actors British male stage actors 18th-century Irish male actors 18th-century British male actors 1711 births 1768 deaths Male actors from Dublin (city) Irish emigrants to Kingdom of Great Britain {{Ireland-bio-stub