page_title: Henry Woodward (English actor)
section_title: Drury Lane and Dublin
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Woodward (English actor) / Drury Lane and Dublin
caption_attribution_description: British, Bow; Figure; Ceramics-Porcelain
context_page_description: Henry Woodward was an English actor, among the most famous in his day for comedy roles.
context_section_description: In 1737, at the end of the season, the theatre was closed, and Woodward went to Drury Lane, appearing in January 1738 as Feeble in Henry IV Part 2. He remained at Drury Lane  until 1747, playing many parts in comedy, and adding to his repertory some fifty characters.
  Engaged by Thomas Sheridan for Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, Woodward made his first appearance there in September 1747 as Marplot in Susanna Centlivre's The Busie Body. As Marplot he came out again in September 1748 at Drury Lane. He repeated some of his Dublin successes, and gave in March 1749 his own unprinted interlude, Tit for Tat.
  Between 1751 and 1756 Woodward produced and probably acted in several unprinted pantomimes of his own. These all displayed gifts of construction and invention, and were highly popular. Some of them had previously been seen in Dublin. Marplot in Lisbon was produced at Drury Lane in March 1754. It was a compression, with some slight alterations by Woodward, of Susanna Centlivre's Marplot, a continuation of The Busie Body, and was seen again in Dublin and at Covent Garden.
  At Drury Lane he remained until 1758. At the end of the season of 1757–58 Woodward finally severed his connection with Drury Lane. His last engagement had been prodigal of interest and incident. He was David Garrick's right-hand man, and divided with him the empire over comedy. His Mercutio, when Garrick and Barry in Romeo and Juliet divided the town, had been an unsurpassable triumph. Arthur Murphy said, concerning the performance, that "no actor ever reached the vivacity of Woodward". His performance of Bobadill in Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour was pronounced "wonderful" by Tate Wilkinson.
caption: Henry Woodward as Fine Gentleman in David Garrick's farce Lethe. Bow porcelain factory figure, 1750. [2]
exif: {}