Aston, Tony

Aston, Tony [ Anthony Aston] (fl. 1700–50), Irish actor, known also as Matt Medley, to whom, in default of more precise information, goes the honour of having been the first professional actor to appear in the New World. In the preface to his play The Fool's Opera; or, The Taste of the Time, printed in 1731, he refers to his appearances in ‘New York, East and West Jersey, Maryland, Virginia (on both sides Cheesapeek), North and South Carolina, South Florida, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Hispaniola’. He is known to have appeared in Charleston in 1703, and later in the same year in New York, but it is not known in what roles he appeared, or whether he was alone or with a company. He may have given a sort of variety entertainment like the ‘medley’ in which he appeared in the English provinces in 1717. In 1735 he protested against the proposed bill for regulating the stage, and he was still alive in 1749, when he was spoken of as ‘travelling still and as well known as the posthorse that carries the mail’. He was the author of several other plays including Love in a Hurry (1709) and The Coy Shepherdess (1712).