author
Sydney Grundy
1848–1914
A prolific Victorian dramatist with a sharp feel for stagecraft, he built a wide popular audience through lively adaptations and original comedies. He is also remembered for writing librettos for comic operas, including Haddon Hall.
5 Audiobooks
In Honour Bound: An Original Play, in One Act. (Suggested by Scribe's Five Act Comedy, "Une Chaine.")
by Sydney Grundy
The New Woman: An Original Comedy, in Four Acts
by Sydney Grundy
A Little Change: A Farce in One Scene
by Sydney Grundy
A Fool's Paradise: An Original Play in Three Acts
by Sydney Grundy
The Silver Shield: An Original Comedy in Three Acts
by Sydney Grundy
About the author
Born in Manchester on March 23, 1848, he was educated at Owens College and initially trained for the law, being called to the bar in 1869. After practicing in Manchester for several years, he turned fully to the theater and began building a career as a playwright in the 1870s.
His work became a familiar presence on the late Victorian and Edwardian stage. Many of his best-known plays were adaptations of European works, reshaped for English-speaking audiences, and a number of them enjoyed wide commercial success in London and on tour. Alongside his plays, he also wrote librettos for comic operas, with Haddon Hall among the works for which he is still especially noted.
He died in London on July 4, 1914. Though tastes changed after his lifetime, his career offers a vivid glimpse of the commercial theater world of his era and of the writers who helped connect continental drama with British popular entertainment.