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nosnibor3 comments: 'The "African Roscius", a prominent performer on this playbill, was an African American. His real name was Ira Aldridge 1807-1867. He came to Britain as he thought - correctly - that he would have more opportunities as an actor.

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3 months later

Various people have spotted Mr Kean, including http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589074.0x000002#?cv=137

First of five nights' appearance http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589114.0x000002#?cv=216&c=0&m=0&s=0&xywh=414%2C1737%2C2954%2C1889 (Jennifer P)

As Romeo and many other roles http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589074.0x000002#?cv=265

And again! 'Mr. Kean will perform Shylock this evening, the Hamlet, Romeo, and Sir Edward Mortimer.' http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589074.0x000002#?cv=117&c=0&m=0&s=0&xywh=-1727%2C-174%2C5413%2C3462

As Richard http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589074.0x000002#?cv=72

A benefit night for him (and you could buy tickets directly from him?!) http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100022589074.0x000002#?cv=244&c=0&m=0&s=0&xywh=-2003%2C-173%2C5953%2C3807

7 days later

Not so much famous people, but ships! The Devonport Theatre had several performances for the benefit of the captain and crew of ships, just as many theatres also did for the army. Interesting that some had taken part in the Napoleonic Wars, even captured from the French and renamed. Ones noticed: HMS Adelaide, Cornwallis, Ringdove, Endymion, Forte.

5 days later

johnjo I must correct myself here. The performances were not "for the benefit of", but "under the patronage of" - a different thing altogether.

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      If you're interested in Ira Aldridge, after Elizabeth D shared a sighting of him in Stafford from 1830 (https://twitter.com/LibCrowds/status/1271035563081154568 ), Dorothy Berry from the Houghton Library at Harvard shared this link to a document showing 'the theatres and plays in various European cities where Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius, acted during the years 1827-1867', compiled by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: https://digitalcollections.library.harvard.edu/catalog/990069496980203941

      If you'd like to learn more about Ira Aldridge, here's an article from 2019: http://camdennewjournal.com/article/stage-struck-out-of-theatre-history and a post, 'Reading Ira Aldridge' on the Houghton Library Blog: https://blogs.harvard.edu/houghton/reading-ira-aldridge/

      Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is a significant figure in his own right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Alfonso_Schomburg

      This is excellent! Thanks for sharing, Mia.

      The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a highly regarded research institute specializing in scholarship on the African American experience and the African Diaspora, is named after Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.

      The Schomburg Center holds a "List showing the theatres and plays in various European cities where Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius, acted during the years 1824-1867" and a book titled "Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius." Judging from the New York Public Library's (NYPL) catalog, both appear to only be available for on-site reference viewing. I don't think either can be accessed in digitized form at this time.

      However, there is a NYPL blog post titled "Live from the Reading Room: Arturo Schomburg to Langston Hughes," that discusses a 1933 letter in which Arturo Schomburg mentions his interest in acquiring an image of Ira Aldridge to Langston Hughes:
      https://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/02/05/live-reading-room-correspondence-1

      Looking through Schomburg's list that must have taken a significant amount of work to put together. It's obviously not complete, but we can only know that because it's now so easy to check multiple sources.