BOUCICAULT, DION

(1820-1890)

   Born Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot in Dublin, the colorful actor, manager, and prolific playwright launched his career in London. From 1853, he made his career in America, managing various theatres in New Orleans and New York, and touring with his own company. He wrote a steady stream of plays, many of which were cribbed from French sources. Nevertheless, Boucicault had a good sense of what the public wanted and the dramatic skills and theatrical flair to create remarkably successful melodramas. He often used Irish themes and settings, incorporating gripping suspense and dazzling sensations. The best of his 200 or so plays were written before the modernist era, but were frequently performed well into the 20th century, including The Streets of New York (1857), The Octoroon (1859), The Colleen Bawn (1860), Rip Van Winkle (1865, for Joseph Jefferson III), and The Shaughran (1874).

   See also foreign plays adapted to the American Stage.