BUNN, ALFRED (1796-1860), English theatrical manager, was stage-manager of Drury Lane theatre, London (1823), of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham (1826), and joint manager of Drury Lane and Covent Garden, London (1833) . He had difficulties first with his company, then with the lord chamberlain, and had a long-standing quarrel with Macready, which resulted in the tragedian assaulting the manager. In 1840 Bunn was declared a bankrupt, but he continued to manage Drury Lane till 1848. Artistically his control of the two chief English theatres was highly successful. He made a courageous attempt to establish English opera, producing the principal works of Balfe. He had some gift for writing, and most of the libretti of these operas were translated by himself.
See his The Stage Before and Behind the Curtain (3 vols., 184o).