Samuel Phelps

Samuel Phelps (13 February 1804 – 6 November 1878) was an English actor-manager. He is known for reviving the fortunes of the neglected Sadler's Wells Theatre and for his productions of Shakespeare's plays which were presented with attention to period detail and dramatic veracity, and used texts purged of 18th-century alterations and additions. Stage-struck from an early age, Phelps performed as an amateur before becoming a professional actor in 1826. Working his way up in provincial companies he graduated from small supporting parts to leading roles, making his London début as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 1839. From 1844 to 1862 he ran Sadler's Wells, presenting all but four of Shakespeare's plays as well as those of dramatists from the Renaissance to the current period. As an actor, Phelps was widely seen as a good, but not a great, tragedian; his performances in comic roles including Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream received widespread praise.