ABSTRACT
Under the management of the actor Thomas Sheridan, Dublin’s Smock Alley theatre rivaled London’s two main stages, Drury Lane and Covent Garden. David Garrick joined the Smock Alley company for the 1745-46 season, where he, Sheridan, and Sheridan’s fellow Irishman Spranger Barry starred in several Shakespearean roles. It was the only time that the three great actors performed together. The tall, handsome Barry was the foremost stage lover of the era. A year after returning to London, Garrick bought a half interest in the patent of Drury Lane, where for three decades, as actor, manager, and occasional playwright, he would make that theatre the embodiment of the English stage and the envy of the rest of Europe.
