Celebrating Black History Month: Ira Aldridge, nineteenth century actor and trailblazer

Ira Frederick Aldridge, born July 24, 1807 in New York City, was a Shakespearean actor and toured all over Europe, becoming one of the top paid actors of the time. He began acting in the early 1820s but facing persistent discrimination against black actors, he emigrated to Liverpool, England in 1824.  British Parliament had outlawed slavery and was trying to abolish slavery in all of the British empire. This increased the possibility for black actors to perform.

In October 1825, he debuted at London's Royal Coburg Theatre, where he played the lead role in Revolt of Surinam, or A Slave's Revenge.  Audiences loved him, but theatre critics at the time were scandalized by his race, and made their racism evident in their reviews.

He continued to perform throughout Europe and was on tour in Poland in 1867, when he died from a prolonged lung condition.  He is the only African-American actor to be honored with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon.  

Ariel 1 launched 1962

England became the third country in the world to operate a satellite, launching Ariel 1 April 26, 1962 from Cape Canaveral.  It was a joint effort between NASA and the UK.  It was named after the sprite in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

In July 1962, it was damaged by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test, which destroyed or damaged several other satellites.  Although it continued to operate, the radiation disabled the timer which would have deactivated the satellite after one year.  Thus, it extended its life and Ariel 1 re-entered the atmosphere in May 1976. 

Thirteenth Night by Alan Gordon

Alan Gordon's novel Thirteenth Night is a speculative fiction based on the characters of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In December of 1200, some fifteen years after the events in the Bard's play, Feste learns that Duke Orsino of Illyria has died, unexpectedly and under mysterious circumstances.

He returns to Illyria in the disguise of a German merchant to find out what happened to the former duke and what will happen to the dukedom since the new duke is too young and a regent will have to be named.

Another member of the Guild, to which Feste belongs, shows up to help him discover the truth. I found Gordon's depiction of the Guild to be most interesting. According to the author, it was a group of fools trained in the arts of entertaining such as juggling, singing, telling stories, but they also acted behind the scenes spying and manipulating events as they felt necessary much like Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserit in his Dune series.

Feste realizes that much has changed since he left Illyria a decade and a half ago, especially the people any of which could be his chief suspect and old foe, Malvolio.

I am not familiar with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night enough to make connections between the play and the book, and that seemed to be a slight detriment to my enjoying this novel more. But even if one is no so well-versed on the Bard, this is still a very entertaining mystery with twists, turns and an ending to satisfy all fans of whodunits.

Gordon does a meticulous and excellent job of describing medieval Italian customers, settings and the political climates of the times. He incorporates the international events and governmental environments during that era that give the reader a brief history lesson in very early fourteenth century Italy.

Thirteenth Night is a great read, and although slow starting, soon becomes an exciting page turner to the last.