Thomas Weston (actor)
Thomas Weston (1737 – 18 January 1776) was an English actor.[1]
Life
Weston was the son of a cook. He made his first London appearance around 1759, and from 1763 until his death,[2] he was considered to be the most amusing comedian on the English stage.[3]
Weston was considered as “Foote's most faithful trouper and a gifted comedian.[2] Samuel Foote wrote for him the part of Jerry Sneak in The Mayor of Garratt. Abel Drugger in the Alchemist was one of his famous performances; and Garrick, who also played this part, praised him highly for it.[3] Georg Christoph Lichtenberg describes the craft and expertise skills of Weston's playing of comic 'business' as scrub.[4]
He was in debt and had a problem with alcohol abuse. He died of a condition related to excessive consumption of alcohol. He died on 18 January 1776.[5]
Gallery
Weston in character
Weston as Scrub in Scrub's Trip to The Jubilee
Weston as Scrub in The Beaux' Stratagem
Weston as Costard in Love's Labour's Lost
Weston as Dr. Last in The Devil on Two Sticks
Weston as Dr. Last
References
- ↑ Conacher, D. J. (27 January 1995). Sources of Dramatic Theory: Volume 2, Voltaire to Hugo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-521-32695-7. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- 1 2 Kozar, Richard (1 April 2000). Summer Theatre in London, 1661-1820, and the Rise of the Haymarket Theatre. Vancouver, British Columbia: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-838-63811-8. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- 1 2 Chisholm 1911.
- ↑ Wilkie, Ian (20 April 2016). Performing in Comedy: A Student's Guide. Oxon: Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-317-42929-6. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ↑ Wilkinson, Tate (17 February 2009). Memoirs of His Own Life. Vancouver, British Columbia: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-838-63767-8. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Weston, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 555.
- Knight, John Joseph (1899). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 60. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Batty, Mark. "Weston, Thomas (1737–1776)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29135. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)