Barry Sullivan (stage Actor) - Career in Australia

Career in Australia

On 25 July 1862 Sullivan arrived in Victoria (Australia) aboard the City of Melbourne and was to stay for about four years, as actor and manager. Sullivan made his début as Hamlet at Theatre Royal, Melbourne on 9 August 1862.

The period between 1860 and 1870 was one of the highest standards of acting seen in Australia. Gustavus Vaughan Brooke was usually at his best in Australia, Joseph Jefferson was at his best and had not yet begun to restrict the range of his characters, and Sullivan had the advantage, sometimes lacking later in England, of always having excellent support from his companies. Sullivan's parts in Australia included Hamlet, Othello, Iago, Richard III, Macbeth, Shylock, Lear, Falstaff, Falconbridge, Charles Surface, Claude Melnotte, and Richelieu. Sullivan became established as a public favourite. Sullivan played his final night at the Theatre Royal on 16 February 1866.

Sullivan completed a trip around the world in 1866, arriving in London early in September. From 1868 to 1870 he managed the Holborn theatre, where Beverley in The Gamester was one of his most powerful impersonations.

In the next 20 years Sullivan was constantly playing in London, the provinces and in the United States, he was most popular in Dublin, Cork, Liverpool and Manchester. When the memorial theatre at Stratford-on-Avon was opened, Sullivan was selected to play Benedick; Helena Faucit, emerging from retirement, played Beatrice. On the following evening Sullivan appeared as Hamlet. On 4 June 1887 while at Liverpool he made his last appearance on the stage, playing Richard III. Sullivan's health had been uncertain for some time and in the following year he suffered a stroke of paralysis. He was so ill in August 1888 that the last rites of his church were administered, but did not die until 3 May 1891. His wife and two sons and three daughters survived him.

Sullivan was five feet nine inches (175cms) tall and had a wiry, slight figure which allowed him to play younger parts when he was middle-aged. For a long period Sullivan was one of the finest actors of his period, though at times inclined to err on the robust side. In Melbourne Sullivan's death resulted in lengthy obituaries; he was remembered as an actor and manager of 'more than ordinary talent, combined with considerable force of character, great tenacity of purpose, untiring industry, and a dogged application to the business of his profession'.