SOURCE: Howe, Elizabeth. The First
English Actresses
On February 3, 1730, at the age of 17, she married Richard Charke, a violinist. He was a reprobate philanderer and spent all of their money on street women. Within the year of their marriage, Charlotte became pregnant with a daughter, Catherine, and was so poor that she turned to acting to support herself and her child. Her husband was already almost completely out of the picture.
Charlotte made her first appearance on stage as Mademoiselle in The Provok'd Wife on April 8, 1730, the benefit night for one Mrs. Sarah Thurmond. She contined to act in many parts. She created the role of Lucy in George Lillo's The London Merchant and became well known for playing male parts such as Roderigo in Othello and Macheath in The Beggar's Opera, and in Pasquin and The Beggar's Pantomime she played the roles of Lord Place and Pistol respectively. The last two pieces, as well as her own play, The Art of Management, so attacked her brother Theophilus and her father Colley Cibber that they drove a wedge between herself and them. (Eventually Charlotte was disowned by both.)
Though Charlotte Charke was not the first woman to dress in men's clothes and take on male roles, she was one of very few to take to the practice of dressing in men's clothes outside of the theatre. Many speculations have been made as to why Charke chose to dress in men's clothing for a good part of a fifteen-year span. Charlotte had many financial problems, and some suggest that it was a way to dodge her creditors and escape going to prison as a debtor again. By assuming a male identity and going under the name of Charles Brown, she was harder to find. Others have said that she disguised herself as a male in order to have a better standing in the business world. She could do things as a male that she could never imagine to attempt as a woman. (However, as a woman, she did become a prompter at the Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, something previously unheard of for a woman. Also, a few have said that her cross dressing was linked to something other than opportunity. Some have conjectured that Charlotte Charke was a transvestite, plain and simple, and dressed up out of a sense of displacement or in order to become sexually excited. These last reasons are more than likely false because no evidence of homosexuality or inappropriate conduct on Charke's part has of yet come to light.
Before her death in April 1760 at the
age of 47, Charke wrote her own biography, entitled, A Narrative of
the Life of Charlotte Charke. It is one of the few sources information
available about her remarkable life. A few others are:
(SOURCES)
Morgan, Fidelis. The Well Known Trouble Maker: A Life of Charlotte
Charke. London: Faber and Faber, 1988.
Peavy, Charles D. "The Chimerical Career of Charlotte Charke." Restoration and 18th Century Theatre Research 8 (1969): 1-12.
Strange, Sallie Minter. "Charlotte Charke: Transvestite or Conjurer?"
Restoration
and 18th Century Theatre Research 15 (1976): 54-60.
Addison, most celebrated today as the principal author of the periodical The Spectator, was also well-known in his own time as a poet and as the author of the celebrated tragedy Cato (1713).
Colley Cibber, born 6 November 1671,
died 11 December 1757, was an actor, playwright and theater manager during
the late 1600s to the mid 1700s. He wrote twelve comedies, six tragedies,
and one tragicomedy. He also scripted numerous musical "entertainments."
His career lasted fifty-five years and was riddled with various controversies
and critics. He began acting with no training after a rejection from college.
His first recorded acting part was in September of 1690.
He became a success after playing Lord Touchwood in the Double Dealer(1694).
When no new lead parts came as a result of this success, he wrote one for
himself in Love's Last Shift(1696).
He played Sir Novelty Fashion, a fop character, which set the trend for
his most talented performances. Perhaps his biggest writing success was
his adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry III, which was the playing
version for one hundred and fifty years. He worked in Drury Lane theater
until October of 1706 when he moved to Haymarket. In 1710
he
was back again in Drury Lane, this time as a manager. While there he was
called a "greedy, hard-headed and abrasive man." Cibber's most controversial
play was his adaptation of Tartuffe in 1717. Tories with Jacobite
sympathies were very angry at his version of the play, and Cibber was considered
an enemy up to and after his death. However, those who favored the Whig
party were quite fond of the adaptation. The last time Cibber took the
stage was in his own adaptation titled Papal Tyranny in the Reign of
King John. He was booed and mocked during and after the performance.
Cibber had an interesting career with many ups and downs. In the end he
made many enemies, Alexander Pope among them. His death in December of
1757
went nearly unnoticed by the theater circle.
SOURCE: Merians, Linda, "Colley Cibber," in Restoration and Eighteenth
Century Dramatists, Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 84,
2nd. Series, ed. Paula R. Backscheider. Call #: REF PS21 D521
to be added.
Picture
Born in Halle, German, February 23, 1685,
died in London, April 14, 1759, G. F.
Handel was one of the great Baroque composers. Handel did not actually
move from Germany to England until the age of twenty-seven. Handel's contribution
to the Restoration theater scene was mainly the popularization of the English
oratorio. Some of his most famous oratorios in England were performed at
the King's theater between 1711 (when his first
production, Rinaldo, was seen) and 1752, when one of his last works,
Jephtha,
was performed, Handel was known for using many biblical scripts for his
scores, including the most notorious Messiah, a score with a libretto
by Charles Jennens based on stories of the Old and New Testaments. Other
works by Handel include Israel in Egypt, Belshazaar,
Judas
Maccabaeus, Theodora, and Alexander's Feast, an oratorio
using the text of John Dryden's St. Cecelia's day
ode of that title.
Handel's scores, biographical information, and audio recordings of his masterpieces can be found in the Music Library.
SOURCE: Dean, Winton, "Handel, G.F.," in The New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians, Vol. 8. London: Macmillan, 1980. Call #ML100.N48
(Library West).
by Megan Katovich
€Article
€Three pictures available: Portrait,
In
Later Life, As "The
Lady Abbess"
Article
Pictures: To be provided according to the following
list. Items 1-3 are from Salpeter, Harry. Dr. Johnson and Mr. Boswell.
New York: Coward-McCann Publishers, 1929. Call Number: 824.6 J69ysz. Items
4-6 are from DeMaria, Robert, Jr. The Life of Samuel Johnson. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1993.
Call Number: PR3533. D39. Item 7 is from Bate,W. Jackson. Samuel
Johnson. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. Call Number: PR3522.
B531.
2. Dr. Johnson in traveling dress.
3. The Sometimes Inseparable Two. This picture illustrates comically the genuine friendship of Boswell and Johnson.
4. Title page from The Dictionary of the English Language.
5. Johnson in his thirties, exhibiting his intellectual side.
6. Johnson near his death.
7. The last portrait of Johnson. The death mask of Johnson.
He had something of a formal Gravity in his Mien....He had a piercing Eye, and in Characters of Heroick Life a quick imperious Vivacity in his Tone of Voice that painted the Tyrant truly terrible. There were two Plays of Dryden in which he shone with uncommon Lustre: in Aureng-Zebe he play'd Morat, and in Don Sebastian, Muley-Moloch; in both these Parts he had a fierce Lion-like Majesty in his Port and Utterance that gave the Spectator a kind of trembling Admiration!Kynaston was married in 1662 and had several children. It is probable that at least one son survived when Kynaston died in 1712 (leaving a "handsome" estate), but like Kynaston's father, the son was not connected with the theatre.
Elizabeth Linley was born September 7, 1754. She was the second of twelves children born to Thomas Linley, the conductor and composer and his wife Mary Johnson. Elizabeth and six of her siblings were destined for musical careers. It is said that Elizabeth possessed the greatest talent and beauty. Elizabeth was trained by her father at an early age.
Elizabeth's first performance was at age twelve, when she and
her brother played in The Fairy Favour at Covent Garden Theater
January 31, 1767.
In May Elizabeth sang and Thomas played the violin in a concert at
Bath. They received much encouragement, and their father promised to see
to their improvement.
Elizabeth had a reputation in London where concert rooms were readily available to her. Her father had no intention of her making a career in the theater, however, and in 1700 she was forced to promise to marry one Walter Long, after much protest. She explained that she could never marry Long and be happy.
On June 26, 1776, at the Haymarket Theatre a new comedy, called The Maid of Bath, inspired by Elizabeth's story, opened. Elizabeth had many proposals of marriage, but in 1772 she eloped with Richard Brinsley Sheridan. They escaped to France, but since they were underage the marriage was invalid. Elizabeth's last public appearance was April 12, 1773. On April 13, she and Sheridan were officially wed. She suffered many miscarriages because of poor health, but she delivered a son in 1775. She died at Bristol in 1792.
SOURCE: Highfill, Phillip H., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans. A Biographical Dictonary of Actors...and Other Stage Personnel in London 1660-1800. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982.
Frances Sheridan was born Frances Anne Chamberlain c. 1716 and died on September 26, 1766. Sheridan was described as having a lot of personality, as being very loving and intelligent. She was also described as having "undoubted literary gifts." At age 15, she had written her first romance. Her first play, The Discovery, was introduced at Drury Lane on February 5, 1763. It was revived many times afterwards and was extremely successful. Her second comedy, The Dupe, was first performed at Drury Lane in December 1763. Her third comedy was not published or performed until 1902. She also wrote three noteworthy prose romances. She was married to Thomas Sheridan in 1747. They had a good and happy marriage. He was the manager of the Smock Alley Theater. They had many debts and six children: two who died, Charles, Alicia, Elizabeth, and Richard Brinsley. She had a great influence on her son Richard and his work. Many of Richard's ideas and characters came from his mother Frances. For example, many of the characters in his The Rivals are similar to those in her unpublished and unperformed comedy, The Journey to Bath. In 1763 Frances Sheridan and her family moved to France to escape the high cost of living, and their debts. She died there, survived by her husband as well as four of her children.
SOURCES:
€Article
€Pictures: As Macbeth.
As Shylock
John Palmer was born in London during the year 1744. His father, Robert, was the house functionary of Drury Lane. It is no surprise to me that the mother of John is unknown. Little is known about John's early years. In 1761 John was cast by Samuel Foote in his new farce, The Orator , which premiered in April 1762. Palmer played the role of Harry Scamper in this popular farce at the Haymarket Theater. He only worked at the summer Haymarket a short time before he moved to Drury Lane, where he had finally been given a chance.
On May 20, 1762 he made his debut at Drury Lane, playing the role of Buck in The English Gentleman of Paris. He had only played Buck four times when he joined up with the Portsmouth company. After a year at Portsmouth, he played George Barnwell in The London Merchant. Soon he secured several other roles. in 1765 he began to perform with the Norwich Company at Colchester, obtaining two more new roles. He also married a local heiress, Miss Frances Berroughs. Almost immediately he dumped her for a mistress, but he soon came back to his wife. Although there was a scandal the "Public Clamor" died down when the Palmers left for London.
In 1766, after temporarily being in a slump, Palmer's luck changed. Drury Lane actor "Gentleman John" was taken ill and the role of Harcourt in The Country Wife became available. Palmer offered to play it and learned the part in one day. Palmer picked up many other parts as a result of other actors' illnesses. In his 37 years in the theater Palmer played more than 375 different parts. He passed away in 1798.
SOURCE: Highfill, Phillip H., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans. A Biographical Dictonary of Actors...and Other Stage Personnel in London 1660-1800. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982.
Rochester's particular links to the theatre are many. Famously, he taught his then mistress, Elizabeth Barry, to be an actress (in six weeks). He is also the subject or alleged subject of more than one play, including Etherege's The Man of Mode, in which he figures as Dorimant, according to Dennis, and Lee's The Princess of Cleves, in which he may be represented more than once.
In 1762 William Smith played leading roles in Shakespeare on thirty-five different nights during the run of The Coronation. He played Henry V eighteen times, the Bastard Faulconbridge in King John, and, for the first time, Richard III. During the following season (1763-64) Smith added to his repertoire the role of Edgar in King Lear. In 1765 Smith starred as Belford in Arthur Murphy's comedy No Man's Enemy But His Own and then later that season as Iachimo in Cymbeline. Near the end of his career Smith played Saint Valori in Cumberland's tragedy The Carmelite, and in his very last role on March 19, 1788 Smith ended his acting career gloriously, playing the lead in Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Source: To be added.
Nahum Tate was born in Ireland, 1652. When he was sixteen he entered Trinity College in Dublin with his brother Faithful. Tate graduated four years later with a bachelor of arts degree. In 1677 his first work, which was entitled Poems, was published. Tate's first play, Brutus of Albus, was performed in June, 1678, at the Dorset Garden Theater. In 1680 Tate collaborated with Dryden on a translation of Ovid's Epistles. Several months later, they collaborated on another play, King Richard, which was banned after its first showing. They worked together on another play, which was a long-lived adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear. It was performed at the Dorset Garden Theater in 1681. Tate's most well-known works are Duke and No Duke and The Ingratitude of a Commonwealth Man. It is believed that Tate was the author of more than one hundred works. He is better known, however, for his reputation rather than his works. He was Poet Laureate 1692-1715. Tate was one of the better-known dramatists during the Restoration period and focused mainly on Shakespeare. He died at an old age and was buried in St. George's Church, Southwark.
Sources:
Humphreys, James, Jr. A Southwark Theater Announcement: A Constant Couple. Philadelphia: James Humphrey, 1778.
McGugan, Ruth. Nahum Tate and the Coriolanus Tradition in English Drama, with a Critical Analysis of Tate's The Ingratitude of a Commonwealth Man.
Spencer, Christopher. Nahum Tate. New York: Twayne, 1972.
