Michael Atkins (1747-1812) was an English-born Irish

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

theatre manager Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicat ...

. He has been described as "the single most important person in the early history of theatre in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. He was the son of Michael Atkins, a

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

who was in the

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

company in the 1760s, while his uncle Charles Atkins was an actor active around the same time. Atkins appeared in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's West End in his youth, but primarily made his career in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at the

Belfast Theatre Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is the second-largest city in Ireland ...

and its satellites at

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

and

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

. He was acting at the

Smock Alley Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

from the early 1760s, and in the latter years of the decade was involved with James Parker's company in

. From 1773 he assembled a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

at Belfast's Mill Gate Theatre. From 1778 to 1780 he was acting at the

Crow Street Theatre Crow Street Theatre was a theatre in Dublin, Ireland, originally opened in 1758 by the actor Spranger Barry. From 1788 until 1818 it was a patent theatre. History Spranger Barry and Henry Woodward The actor Spranger Barry (1719–1777), born ...

in Dublin, before returning to the Mill Gate in 1781. Those who appeared in Belfast during the period included Andrew Cherry,

William Macready William Charles Macready (3 March 179327 April 1873) was an English stage actor. The son of Irish actor-manager William Macready the Elder he emerged as a leading West End performer during the Regency era. Career Macready was born in London ...

. In 1783 Atkins oversaw the construction of a new, larger theatre in the city's Rosemary Lane and starred the rising actress Anne Brunton there. In 1791 he moved to another new venue in Arthur Street. After some financial difficulties in subsequent years, he returned to strength in the early 1800s. He headlined the actor

Montague Talbot Montague Talbot (1774–1831) was an Irish stage actor and theatre manager. He was born in Boston in British America, Colonial America where his father was serving as a captain in the British Army garrison of the city. His father died in 1782 when ...

, and engaged

Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known Tragedy, tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". She was the elder siste ...

play opposite him on fourteen nights in 1802. In August 1803 Atkins gave the

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

Master Betty William Henry West Betty (13 September 1791 in Shrewsbury24 August 1874 in London) was a popular child actor of the early nineteenth century, known as "the Young Quintus Roscius Gallus, Roscius." Family William Henry West Betty was born on 13 ...

his first professional appearance in Belfast, before he went on to stardom in London. In 1805, the year Siddons returned to appear in Belfast, Atkins recruited the young

Edmund Kean Edmund Kean (4 November 178715 May 1833) was a British Shakespearean actor, who performed, among other places, in London, Belfast, New York, Quebec, and Paris. He was known for his short stature, tumultuous personal life, and controversial div ...

. The same year he retired from management after thirty two years and sold his rights in the company to

Thomas Ludford Bellamy Thomas Ludford Bellamy (1770–1843) was an English singer, also for a time a theatre manager. Life The son of Richard Bellamy, he was born in St. John's parish, Westminster. He learned singing and music from his father and Benjamin Cooke, and a ...

but continued to act. He died on 15 April 1812 in Ann Street in Belfast. He was married to a Belfast-born actress Catherine Hutton and had three children with her, all of whom had some involvement with the theatre, and his granddaughter married

.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.167

References

Bibliography

* Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800: Abaco to Belfille''. SIU Press, 1978. * Johnston, Roy. ''The Musical Life of Nineteenth-Century Belfast''. Routledge, 2017. Irish male stage actors 18th-century Irish male actors 19th-century British male actors 19th-century Irish male actors 1747 births 1812 deaths English emigrants to Ireland Male actors from Belfast {{Ireland-actor-stub