Dion Boucicault
born Dec. 26, 1820/22, Dublin, Ire.
died Sept. 18, 1890, New York, N.Y., U.S.
Irish-American playwright and actor, a
major influence on the form and content of
American drama.
Educated in England, Boucicault began acting
in 1837 and in 1840 submitted his first play
to Mme Vestris at Covent Garden; it was
rejected. His second play, London Assurance
(1841), which foreshadowed the modern social
drama, was a huge success and was frequently
revived into the 20th century. Other notable
early plays were Old Heads and Young Hearts
(1844) and The Corsican Brothers (1852).
In 1853 Boucicault and his second wife,
Agnes Robertson, arrived in New York City,
where his plays and adaptations were long
popular. He led a movement of playwrights
that produced in 1856 the first copyright
law for drama in the United States. His play
The Poor of New York, based on the panics of
1837 and 1857, had a long run at Wallack’s
Theatre in 1857 and was presented elsewhere
as, for example, The Poor of Liverpool. The
Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana (1859)
caused a sensation with its implied attack
on slavery.
Boucicault and his actress wife joined
Laura Keene’s theatre in 1860 and began a
series of his popular Irish plays—The
Colleen Bawn (1860), Arrah-na-Pogue (1864),
The O’Dowd (1873), and The Shaughraun
(1874). Returning to London in 1862, he
provided Joseph Jefferson with a successful
adaptation of Rip Van Winkle (1865). In 1872
Boucicault returned to the United States,
where he remained, except for a trip to
Australia that resulted in his third
marriage (for which he renounced the
legitimacy of his second marriage). Among
his associates in the 1870s was the young
David Belasco. At the time of his death he
was a poorly paid teacher of acting in New
York City.
About 150 plays are credited to
Boucicault, who, as both writer and actor,
raised the stage Irishman from caricature to
character. To the American drama he brought
a careful construction and a keen
observation and recording of detail. His
concern with social themes prefigured the
future development of drama in both Europe
and America.
