R. C. Carton (born Richard Claude Critchett, 10 May 1853 – 1 April 1928) was an English actor and playwright.
Life and career
Carton was born in London on 10 May 1853, a son of the oculist George Critchett and his wife Martha ''née'' Brooker. A brother,
Anderson Critchett
Sir George Anderson Critchett, 1st Baronet, (18 December 1845 – 9 February 1925) was a British surgeon.{{cite journal, last1=Laios, first1=Konstantinos, last2=Moschos, first2=Marilita M., last3=Androutsos, first3=George, date=February 2017, tit ...
, later became the royal oculist.
Carton trained as an architect, but turned to the theatre and began his career as an actor at the New Theatre Royal,
Bristol in March 1875, in ''The Sea of Ice'', and made his first appearance in London, at the
Lyceum Theatre on 19 June 1875, as Osric in
Henry Irving's production of ''
Hamlet''.
[
In 1876 he married Katherine Julia Mackenzie – eldest daughter of the actor Edward Compton – who acted under the stage name Katherine Compton. Carton played in ''Queen Mary'', 1876, ''New Men and Old Acres'', 1878, ''Truth'', 1879, '' The Rivals'', 1880, ''Low Water'', 1884, '']The Private Secretary
''The Private Secretary'' is an 1883 farce in three acts, by Charles Hawtrey (actor born 1858), Charles Hawtrey. The play, adapted from a German original, depicts the vicissitudes of a mild young clergyman, innocently caught up in the machinatio ...
'', 1884 and ''Bad Boys'', 1885, after which he retired from acting.[Parker, pp. 137–138]
As a playwright his first plays were written in collaboration with Cecil Raleigh, and included ''The Great Pink Pearl'', 1885; ''The Pointsman'', 1887, and ''The Treasure'', 1888.[
His first play written alone was ''Sunlight and Shadow'', produced at the ]Avenue Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt i ...
in 1890, by George Alexander. His other plays of the 1890s were '' Liberty Hall'', St James's Theatre, 1892; ''Robin Goodfellow'', Garrick Theatre, 1893; ''The Fall of the Leaf'', 1893; ''The Home Secretary
The Home Secretary is a four-act play by R. C. Carton, first produced in 1895 in the West End of London.
Production
The play was first given at the Criterion Theatre, London, under the actor-manager Charles Wyndham. It opened on 7 May 1895 an ...
'', Criterion Theatre, 1895; ''The Squire of Dames'', Criterion, 1895; ''A White Elephant'', Comedy Theatre, 1896; ''The Tree of Knowledge'', St James's, 1896; '' Lord and Lady Algy'', Avenue, 1898; and ''Wheels Within Wheels'', Court Theatre
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordanc ...
, 1899.[
Carton's plays from 1900 onwards were '' Lady Huntworth's Experiment'', Criterion, 1900; ''The Ninth Waltz'', Garrick, 1900; ''The Undercurrent'', Criterion, 1901; ''A Clean Slate'', Criterion, 1902; ''The Rich Mrs Repton'', Duke of York's Theatre, 1904; ''Mr Hopkinson'', Avenue, 1905; ''Public Opinion'', Wyndham's Theatre, 1905; ''Lady Barbarity'', Comedy, 1908; ''Mr Preedy and the Countess'', Criterion, 1909; ''Lorrimer Sabiston, Dramatist'', St James's, 1909; ''Eccentric Lord Comberdene'', St James's, 1910; ''An Eye-Opener'', London Coliseum, 1911; ''The Bear Leaders'', Comedy, 1912; ''A Busy Day'', Apollo Theatre, 1915; ''The Off-Chance'', Queen's Theatre, 1917, ''Nurse Benson'' (with Justin Huntley McCarthy), ]Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...
, ''The Wonderful Visit'', St Martin's Theatre
St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of ''The Mousetrap'' since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world.
The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue, in t ...
, 1921; and ''Other People's Worries'', Comedy, 1922.[
Carton died in London on 1 April 1928, aged 74.][ His widow outlived him by a few weeks, dying at their London home on 18 May 1928.]
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carton, R.C.
1853 births
1928 deaths
British writers
English actors
English male dramatists and playwrights
Male actors from London