Henry Siddons

Henry Siddons (4 October 1774 – 12 April 1815) was an English actor and theatrical manager, now remembered as a writer on gesture.

He, however, joined the Covent Garden Theatre company, and made his first appearance as Herman in a play called Integrity, on 8 October 1801.

[1] On 21 September 1805 Siddons made his first appearance at Drury Lane Theatre, playing the Prince of Wales to Robert William Elliston's Hotspur in Henry IV.

During his time at Drury Lane he played a variety of parts, including Banquo, Jaffier, George Barnwell, Douglas (in Percy), Claudio (in Much Ado About Nothing), and Rolla.

[1] On starting his managerial career, Siddons aimed at producing plays with greater efficiency in all directions than before, at the Edinburgh Theatre; he was encouraged and supported by Scott.

Productions in the first season included a comedy entitled The West Indian, a farce called Fortune's Frolic and a series of Shakespeare plays in which Siddon's uncle, Stephen Kemble, was a popular Falstaff.

[7] Productions in 1812 included Everyone Has His Fault by Elizabeth Inchbald (1793), Tekeli or The Siege of Montgatz by Theodore Hook (1806), Blue-Beard by George Colman (1798) and his own adaptation of The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott (1811).

In 1813–14, productions included The Sleep Walker by W.C. Oulton (1812), The White Cat or Harlequin in Fairy Wood by Henry Smart and James Kirby (1811), Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1602), Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway (1682) and The Tragedy of Jane Shore by Nicolas Rowe (1714).