Editing Wilson Barrett (section)

===1880s===
[[File:Claudian - Weir Collection.jpg|thumb|250px|Barrett's production of Claudian at the [[Royal Lyceum Theatre]], Edinburgh]]
[[File:Hoodman blind - Weir Collection.jpg|250px|thumb|Poster for Hoodman blind]]
Barrett was born into a farming family in [[Essex]]. He is remembered as an actor of handsome appearance (despite his small stature) and with a powerful voice. He made his first appearance on the stage at [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] in 1864, and then played in the provinces alone and with his wife, [[Caroline Heath]], in ''[[East Lynne]]''. They married in 1866, having two sons, Frank and Alfred, and three daughters, Ellen, Katherine and Dorothea (Dollie).

Barrett capitalized on his early success as an actor to start a career as a producer.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:C7Qgpb0JuwgJ:www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_63020_en.pdf+barrett+The.Sign.of.the.Cross&hl=en Theatre study on Victorian Theatre], from the [[University of Glasgow]]</ref> After managerial experience at the [[Grand Theatre Leeds]] and elsewhere, in 1879 he took over the management of the [[Royal Court Theatre#The first theatre|Old Court theatre]],<ref>{{Citation
  |first=George
  |last=Wilman
  |title=Sketches of living celebrities
  |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=alwBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA42
  |year=1882
  |publisher=Griffith and Farran
  |location=London
  |page=42
  |chapter=Wilson Barrett}}</ref> where in the following year he introduced Madame [[Helena Modjeska]] to London in an adaptation of ''Maria Stuart'' (by [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]]), together with productions of ''Adrienne Lecouvreur'', ''La Dame aux camélias'' and other plays.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-RoyalCourtTheatre.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091208135802/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-RoyalCourtTheatre.html| archive-date = 2009-12-08| title = Royal Court Theatre – Guide to Royal Court Theatre {{!}} Encyclopedia.com: Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre}}</ref>

In 1881, Wilson Barrett took over the recently refurbished [[Princess's Theatre, London|Princess's Theatre]], where his melodramatic productions enjoyed great success (if not quite as much as before), with attendance being the highest ever for this theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Princess.htm|title=The Royal Princess's Theatre, 73 Oxford street, London|website=arthurlloyd.co.uk|access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref> There Barrett presented ''[[The Lights o' London]]'', and then ''[[The Silver King (play)|The Silver King]]'', regarded as the most successful [[melodrama]] of the 19th century in England. It debuted on 16 November 1882, with Barrett as Wilfred Denver. He played this part for three hundred nights without a break, and repeated its success in [[W. G. Wills]]'s ''Claudian''.

In 1885 he and [[Henry Arthur Jones]] produced ''[[Hoodman Blind (play)|Hoodman Blind]]'' and in 1886 co-operated with [[Clement Scott]] in ''Sister Mary''. In 1886 Barrett left the Princess's Theatre, and in this same year he made a visit to America, repeated in later years.

In 1884 Barrett had appeared in ''[[Hamlet]]'', only to promptly return to melodrama. He was not to find much success in any [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearian]] role, apart from [[Mercutio]] in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''.

Though Barrett had occasional seasons in London he acted chiefly in the provinces, with his company being one of the most successful of the decade, receiving a [[Pound sterling|£]]2,000 average yearly profit just from the [[Grand Theatre Leeds]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdeCMTjYHDsC&q=1846+wilson.barrett&pg=PA393|title=The Mid-Victorian Generation, 1846-1886|first=K. Theodore|last=Hoppen|date=6 June 2000|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=9780198731993|access-date=6 June 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref> His brother and his nephew were part of the company, and his grandson would join them eventually.

Barrett was the producer of the performance of ''[[The Romany Rye (play)|The Romany Rye]]'' which on its opening night turned into the [[Exeter Theatre Royal fire]], which was the deadliest theatre incident in UK history, killing 186 people.<ref>Anderson, David (2002). The Exeter Theatre Fire. Entertainment Technology Press.</ref>

According to [[Jacob Pavlovich Adler|Jacob Adler]], Wilson Barrett was the most famous actor on the [[London]] stage of the 1880s.