Edmund Falconer

Edmund Falconer
Old Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Born	Edmund O'Rourke 1814 Dublin, Ireland
Died	1879 Russell Square, London
Occupation	Actor, poet, theatre manager, songwriter, playwright
Years active	1824–1879
Spouse(s)	Married three times

Edmund Falconer (c.1814 – 29 September 1879), born Edmund O'Rourke, he was an Irish poet, actor, theatre manager, songwriter and playwright, known for his keen wit and outstanding acting skills.

Edmund O'Rourke was born in Dublin around 1814. He entered the theatrical world as a child, however he did not achieve fame until he was over 40. The first half of his working life was spent playing in repertory theatre in Ireland and the provinces of England. While working as a jobbing actor, he published his first volume of poems – Man's Mission – in 1852.

O'Rourke finally achieved success at the age of 41, when he performed two very diverse roles in Hamlet and the comedy Three Fingered Jack on the same night at the Adelphi Theatre in Liverpool in 1854. He received such rave reviews that he never had to tour the provinces again.

Two years later he changed his stage name to Edmund Falconer and wrote his first successful play, The Cagot or Heart for Heart. It was the start of his second career, that of a London dramatist. Heart for Heart was performed with great success for the first time at the Lyceum Theatre, London, under Charles Dillon's management, on 6 December 1856. The Athenaeum newspaper commented that 'the dialogue is remarkable for noble sentiment, although the verse is not always correct' (13 Dec 1856). His next piece was A Husband for an Hour, produced at the Haymarket Theatre in June 1857.

The year 1858 saw Falconer translate Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas, which was performed at the Princess Theatre in late 1858. During that same year, he began a profitable collaboration with Michael William Balfe by writing the libretto for his much-loved opera The Rose of Castille. He was later to write librettos for several of Balfe's most successful productions, including Satanella, which was produced at Covent Garden on 20 December 1858, and the popular song Killarney, which remained a concert hall favourite well into the 20th century.