Don Edgardo Colona (1846–1904) was the stage name of Edgar Chalmers, a hard-working lesser tragedian in British theater.

Colona grew up in Mexico, the son of a Scots mining engineer. He first appeared on a British stage at the age of eighteen, in a performance of Hamlet, and soon joined the Drury Lane company.[1] Other Shakespearian roles included Richard the Third, Othello, and, in the eighteen-nineties, a disastrous Macbeth at the Old Vic. (As Don Edgardo was about to enact the murder of Duncan, an audience member shouted "Go home! And leave the poor old king alone!")[2] Colona also wrote or adapted a number of plays, the most successful of which were Crime and Atonement[1] and Don John of Seville, a blank verse work first performed at the Elephant and Castle Theater in 1876.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Era magazine, obituary, August 20, 1904.
  2. ^ Clive Francis, There Is Nothing Like a Thane!: The Lighter Side of Macbeth, 92.[1]
  3. ^ William Davenport Adams, A Dictionary of the Drama, 411