Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Third Supplement.djvu/558

 1877, and 1878, notably at the Globe Theatre (February 1878) in the part of Grimaldi in The Life of an Actress. His success on this occasion resulted in the offer of a professional engagement for a short tour, at the conclusion of which he was engaged by Henry Neville [q.v.] to play at the Olympic Theatre. From July to December 1878 he appeared at that theatre in several plays, and in the following year was definitely committed to a professional career, appearing in a succession of parts at several London theatres. From the first he was noticeable for his ingenuity in the playing of parts inclining towards eccentricity and giving scope for elaborate invention. He was also recognized as a cosmopolitan, and his first great success was in the part of the old Marquis de Pontsablé in Madame Favart, in which he toured towards the end of 1879. This brought him into prominence, and on his return to London in April 1880 he appeared at the Prince of Wales's Theatre with Geneviève Ward, as Prince Maleotti in Forget-me-not. Between July 1880 and April 1887, when he first entered into management on his own account, Tree appeared in over fifty plays, rounding a reputation for extraordinary versatility. His repertoire included Sir Anthony Absolute, Sir Benjamin Backbite, and Joseph Surface, Malvolio, Prince Borowsky in The Glass of Fashion by Sydney Grundy, the Rev. Robert Spalding in The Private Secretary, Paolo Macari in Called Back, Mr. Poskett in (Sir) A. W. Pinero's The Magistrate, Baron Hartfeld in Jim the Penman, and Fagin in Oliver Twist. His most conspicuous successes during this period were in The Glass of Fashion (8 September 1883) and The Private Secretary (29 March 1884), the latter play owing a great deal to his invention.

On 20 April 1887 Tree became his own manager, and had the good fortune to begin with a popular success, appearing as Paul Demetrius in the Russian revolutionary play, The Red Lamp, by W. Outram Tristram. It was the kind of part in which he excelled, Paul Demetrius being a ‘character’ in the popular sense of the word. Tree might here indulge to the full an impishness which was the secret of his personal charm and of his success as a comedian. The play was so successful that in September of the same year he was able to take the Haymarket Theatre as lessee and manager, and there, with occasional absences, he remained until the opening of Her Majesty's Theatre in April 1897. During the ten years of his management he produced, and acted in, over thirty plays, appearing as Iago (7 March 1888), Falstaff (13 September 1888), Beau Austin in the play of that name by W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson (3 November 1890), the Duke of Guisbery in The Dancing Girl (15 January 1891), Hamlet (8 September 1891), the grandfather in Maeterlinck's The Intruder (27 January 1892), Lord Illingworth in Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance (19 April 1893), Dr. Stockman in Ibsen's An Enemy of the People (14 June 1895), and Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I (8 May 1896). These productions are mentioned either as popular successes in the kind of part in which Tree personally excelled, or as bringing him definitely into relation with contemporary developments of the drama. His production of plays by Ibsen, Wilde, and Maeterlinck indicates an interest in the more important dramatic movements of the time not invariably shown by contemporary actor-managers, while the productions of Shakespeare were a preparation for the impressive exploits of his closing period. The number and variety of the plays from which these few examples are taken are a further proof of Tree's versatility and ardour in experiment. The seasons at the Haymarket were broken by journeys to America in January 1895 and November 1896, and by occasional visits to the provinces.

Her Majesty's Theatre, Tree's final theatrical home and the appropriate monument of his theatrical genius, was opened on 28 April 1897. Henceforth, with occasional diversions, all was to be done in the high Roman fashion. Shakespeare shared a noble stage with Tolstoi; and, if the author were not of the classic rank, Tree himself would appear, for the most part in illustrious disguise as the Duc de Richelieu, Mephistopheles, or Beethoven, in plays that endeavoured, if in vain, to do dramatic justice to their protagonists. The following is a selection from the list of parts in which he appeared at Her Majesty's: the Duc de Richelieu in The Silver Key (10 July 1897), Petruchio in Katharine and Petruchio (1 November 1897), Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (22 January 1898), D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (3 November 1898), King John (20 September 1899), Bottom (10 January 1900), Herod (31 October 1900), Malvolio (5 February 1901), Ulysses (1 February 1902), Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (10 June 1902), Prince Dmitri Nehludoff in Resurrection (17 February 1903), King Richard II (10 532