Rutland Barrington
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Rutland Barrington (January 15 1853 – May 31 1922) was an English actor, comedian, and musical comedy star, best remembered for his work with Gilbert & Sullivan. He was born George Rutland Fleet at Penge, England, and educated at the Merchant Taylors School.
Early career and Savoy Theatre years
Barrington made his debut at the Olympic Theater in 1874 and the following year was contracted to appear in the company of Mrs. Howard Paul. When Mrs. Paul was approached by Richard D'Oyly Carte for the part of Lady Sangazure in the new Gilbert and Sullivan opera he was producing, The Sorcerer, she suggested that her young protegé be given a part (Dr. Daly), and so Barrington's stage career was launched. Barrington himself, known as a serious man, questioned his suitability for comic opera, but W. S. Gilbert, who required that his actors to play their absurd lines in all ernestness, explained the casting choice: "He's a staid, solid swine, and that's what I want" (Ayre, p. 48).Barrington was a big man, which led to one of Gilbert's famous quips. In a rehearsal for H.M.S. Pinafore, in which Barrington created the role of Captain Corcoran, Gilbert asked him to sit "pensively" on one of the ship's skylights. Barrington lowered himself into position, and the set piece collapsed under his weight. Gilbert remarked, "No, that's ex-pensively." (ibid.)
From 1877 to 1894, save for one disastrous foray into the business of theatrical management (producing Grundy's The Dean's Daughter and Gilbert's Brantingame Hall), Barrington remained in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, creating comic heavy baritone roles in all of the new operas produced with the notable exception of The Yeomen of the Guard. He would return in 1889 to appear in the next Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, The Gondoliers. In August 1891, he and Jessie Bond took a series of "musical duologues" on a provincial tour, returning to the Savoy in November. Barrington remained a fixture for most of the Savoy Theatre productions of the 1890s. He returned to the company in 1908 for the second of the celebrated London repertory seasons.
Later years
In the meantime, he had considerable success under the management of George Edwardes at Daly's Theatre, creating roles in a number of famous pieces, The Geisha (1896), San Toy (1899), A Country Girl, and The Cingalee among them. He also appeared in numerous other musical comedies of the time, and was established as one of the leading stars of the London Stage, playing Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor at His Majesty's Theatre in 1911, and Polonius in Hamlet and Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew at the same theatre in 1916. He gave numerous performances of the standard topical songs of the day, and his only recording is of one of these, a piece of his own composition, "The Moody Mariner."Barrington also wrote several plays, including Bartonmere Towers, produced at the Savoy in 1893, and a popular version of The Water Babies, produced in 1902 at the Garrick Theatre. He also wrote two volumes of reminiscences, Rutland Barrington (1908) and More Rutland Barrington (1910).
After a forced retirement following a paralytic stroke in 1919, Barrington spent the rest of his life in a state of poverty, although benefits were held and other efforts made to help him. He died in Morden, South London in 1922.
Reference
- Introduction by Martyn Green.
External links
- [Rutland Barrington] at Who was Who in the D'Oyly Carte
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