NELL GWYNN
Jenna Stein

Nell Gwyn was born Eleanor Gwyn in Hereford, England in 1650 in a small house located off of Drury Lane. Her mother, Rose, was imprisoned when Nell was young, and she was frequently visited by theatre owner Thomas Killegrew. Exactly how Nell came to work as an orange-seller at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane is not known. Some say that she was employed at a young-age as a barmaid in a local tavern and moved up to the theatre through connections from the tavern, and other's write that her job as an orange seller was her first job and that Killegrew hired her a favor to her mother. Either way, the end result is the same. Through her job as an orange seller, Nell gained exposure to theatre life. Orange sellers were usually pretty girls who could flirt (and sometimes do more) with the audience, and Nell's quick wit made her a favorite with the men in the audience. After becoming the mistress of Charles Hart, an actor, she made her first stage around 1664 in Dryden's play The Indian Emperor.

In 1667, Nell performed the part of Florimel in Dryden's play Secret Love and her performance made her an overnight success. She immediately became known for her comedic performances, and she caught the attention of Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset. Dorset became extremely infatuated with Gwyn and invited her to spend the summer with him at Epsom, and it was here that Nell developed a love for the finer parts of life, and the royal court.

In late 1667, early 1668, Nell attended a play with a suitor and found herself seated next to the King. Her witty remarks during the play led him to invite himself to dinner with her and her date after the show, and Charles II went so far as to invite one of his stewards to ensure that Nell's date would be occupied. The party of four went to a near-by tavern, and when the meal was finished, the King discovered that he had no money, and Nell's date had to pay for the entire dinner. Nell, finding the situation hilarious, burst into laughter, and is said to have declared, "Oddsfish! But this is the poorest company that ever I was in before at a tavern!" The steward and waiter were horrified by her lack of candor with the king, but he was charmed, and immediately fell in love with her.

Once her relationship with King Charles II began, Nell's performances in the theatre dwindled until she finally left the theatre completely in 1669, marking an extremely short career of only five years. She was obviously missed however given the fact that Secret Love was not performed again until 10 years after Nell's performance because apparently the audience would not accept any one else in the part of Florimel.

As Charles' mistress, Nell bore him two sons: Charles Beauclerk, whom the king created Baron Heddington, Earl of Burford and 1st Duke of St. Albans, and James, Lord Beauclerk. She quickly settled into court life and had a famous rivalry with another of Charles' mistresses, Louise de Kerouaille. Nell was always considered the favorite mistress of the people, and is credited with founding the Chelsea Hospital for wounded War Veterans. She contributed much to Charles' plays at White Hall Palace and refused to take any lovers after Charles' death in 1685. Charles' final request to his brother was 'let not poor Nelly starve' and this request resulted in a pension that assured her comfort until her own death two years later.

SECONDARY SOURCES
http://www.parkeriters.com/gwyn.htm (picture and short biography)

THOMAS BETTERTON (1635 - 1710)
Vinay Murthy

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Thomas Betterton's life was dedicated to the theater. He was first, a skilled actor born in 1635 and who lived till 1710 and died at the age of 75. Details, of his childhood are limited but he did escape with Chales II to France while Oliver Cromwell was ruling England. In France, he was greatly influenced by the grand styles that he was exposed to. His exposure to French culture and art would serve him well when he became a Theater Manager in his latter years. He became one of the most successful managers in the history of English History, but with every great rise there is also a fall. Some argue that his business tactics were, at times, underhanded and lacking the interest of the company he served. Others believe that in his latter years, he was too old to properly manage. All opinions aside, the one constant, is that his impact was great and he will never be forgotten.

Thomas Betterton began his acting career in 1660. He worked in the theater of Thomas Killgrew as a member of the King's Company. Killgrew had managed the Drury Lane theater and had been extremely successful. Understanding the potential for theater, William D'Avenant, strove to build competition to the King's Company and started the Duke's Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields. During his time at the Duke's Company, Betterton immerses himself in all aspects of the buisiness. He served as D'Avenant's apprentice and observed the intricacies of theater management. He also continued acting and was invovled in several successful productions in the Duke's Company. His most famous role was that of Hamlet in one of the most successful productions. He was given several accolades for this role and was considered the best actor since Burbage. His wife, Mary Saunderson, was also a very talented actress and they worked together in the Duke's company. Although, Betterton's acting style and power on the stage was impressive, he would soon change his roles into that of a theater manager.

In 1668, William D'Avenant died, and his wife who was left with a large estate, selected Betterton to be the co-manager of the Duke's Company. He was given a salary of 20 shillings a week and the task at making the company a big success. Up until that point, although the company had several successful productions, was slightly in debt to investors. The business model that D'Avenant had followed, echoed the old style aristrocratic style of management. His goal was to get as many rich patrons to give money to the theater and to then invest that money in costumes and sets. Afterwards, D'Avenant would provide the actors with a fixed salary and a percentage of the ticket sales would then be distributed back to the investors. This model failed, because often it left several obligations unfufilled and often led to resentment amongst shareholders. Betterton decided to modify this model significantly and ultimately developed a modern capitalistic approach to management.

First he took away the fixed salaries of the actors and instead gave them a share of the profits. In essence, he turned the largest liability into a stockholder and gave them great inspiration to put on solid performances. Assuming a performance was weak, and brought in less money, the actors would recieve a smaller salary. The next step that Betterton took, was to pay off all debts and investments when the money brought in through ticket sales first. Instead of waiting until the next show to pay off incurred liabilities, he ensured that each production broke even every time. Finally, in order to pay of existing debt, he offered stock to those owed money. By owning percentages of performances, the creditors were guaranteed capital, so long as the theater was successful and so in many cases, they would simply take their dividends and reinvest them into the theater for the potential to make more money. Betterton also worked strongly to develop the talent within the company. Both him and his wife worked to develop the talent's of younger actors so that they could continue to be successful. Betterton also drew famous writers to his company with its success. Aphra Behn, in particular, had many successful plays with the Duke's Company.

Betterton was so successful as a theater manager, that he managed to raise 8000 pounds independent of the monarch to construct a new theater called Dorset Garden. Dorset Garden echoed the grand styles Betterton had observed in France and served as the pinnacle of theater in England for a long time thereafter. While the Duke's company is a big success, Killgrew's company turns out to be a failure and in 1682, Betterton merged the two theaters and bailed them out of their debts to form the new United Theater Company. Both Drury Lane and Dorsett Garden are kept open and this is often considerd the best times for Betterton. He, along with managing, has adapted plays and seen great success. The United Company is considered the "champion of the English Opera" and continues to ride a wave of fame until 1688.

For all this time, the D'Avenant family has had a very hands off style to managing the theater, and Betterton is left to control as he and his co-manager see fit. Unfortunately, in 1688 this changes when Alexander D'Avenant takes control. He removes Betterton as manager and places his brother in charge of the theater. This ultimately leads to a great deal of resentment within the acting community and as a result, an actor's strike takes place. After years of historical conflict, Betterton finally gets his chance to return to theater, but this time he is the manager of what is considered the rebel theater. Most of these actors were ones who had protested the D'Avenant management style and wanted to break from traditional theater. Betterton did his best to run this new crew, and although the company has some success, an inabillity to use venues beyond Lincoln's Fields and consistent feuding between the rebel and rival theaters lead to its downfall. In 1702 the theaters unite again and finally in 1708, Betterton is dropped from his management duties. He had been criticized for having successful investments when fellow actors were struggling to make due. Betterton did get to act one last time before he died and many believed that he never lost his touch. Although there are different interpretations as to how effective Betterton's management style was, he did set precetents and made the theater extremely successful by changing the business practices of the time. His consistent reinvestment of resources in the theater set high standards which are still considered benchmarks today. His legacy is defined by his desire for perfecting both the product and business of theater.

SECONDARY SOURCES
Milhous, Judith. Thomas Betterton and the management of Lincoln's Inn Fields (Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, c1979).

ELIZABETH BARRY
Cynthia Saunders

Born in 1658, Elizabeth Barry was the daughter of Royalist soldier, Robert Barry. During Barry's childhood, a sudden and unexpected loss of money left her family struggling to maintain their status as middle class, yet it was this unfortunate turn of events that led to Barry's success in the theater. In order to give Barry a proper upbringing, her father persuaded family friends, the D'Avenants, to further his daughter's education. Thus Barry was rather quickly introduced into a theatrical lifestyle, and it was at the age of seventeen (September 1675) that she took her first stage role as Draxilla in Thomas Otway's rhyming tragedy, Alcibiades, at Dorset Garden. Barry's performance was given terrible reviews by the critics, yet she still managed to attract the attention of two notable figures: Thomas Otway, himself, (who's attraction to Barry most likely helped her get the role in the first place) and the Earl of Rochester, the later of whom she is said to have taken on for a brief while as a lover. Meanwhile, Thomas Otway's unfulfilled love for Barry was documented by six unsigned love letters addressed to her, found after Otway's death and published in 1697.

Her next role as Isabella, the Hungarian Queen, in Orrery's Mustapha revealed a dramatic improvement in Barry's acting ability. Despite her unseemly physical appearance, Barry quickly became well known as a dramatic heroine, gifted in playing tragic roles and coordinating expressions, tones of voice, and emotions. Another important role for Barry was her performance as Lavinia, in Otway's The Rise and Fall of Caius Marius, in 1679. In Cleomenes, Barry played the role of Cassandra, and in his preface, Dryden says, "Mrs. Barry, always excellent, has in this Tragedy excell'd herself, and gain'd a Reputation, beyond any woman I've seen on the Theatre." Most notably, Barry is remembered for her lead as a desirable orphan in Otway's The Orphan, in 1680.

Barry continued to take major roles in tragic restoration dramas until the age of fifty-two. She died shortly afterwards, in 1713 at the age of fifty-five, having never married and leaving no immediate relatives to survive her. Long after her death, Barry was remembered for her talented performances upon the English stage and the control and precision with which she executed her roles.

SECONDARY SOURCES

DAVID GARRICK
Jason Halal

David Garrick was a massive personality in 18th century theatre and was one of the prime contributors to modern concepts of drama. Garrick single-handedly brought about a departure from the acting styles of his contemporaries, and exemplified acting as we now know it. Aside from his own acting, which 'was revolutionary to say the least, as a manager and producer he helped put on some of the finest and most technically advanced plays of his century.

David Garrick was born February 19,1717 in Hereford, England to the daughter of a vicar in the Lichfield Cathedral and an army officer. He lived in Lichfield for the first 20 years ofhis life. After studying under Samuel Johnson for two years, the two traveled to London where Garrick worked a number of unsuccessful jobs. During his early days in London, Garrick came to be friends with a number of actors and actresses at a local theatre owned by Henry Gifford. Gifford helped get Garrick, who was tremendously interested in acting, into his first role in a pantomime called the Harlequin Student.

Shortly afterwards, Garrick made his big-time debut as Richard III in Colly Cibber's adaptation of Richard III at Goodman's Fields Theatre. Because of his fear that his family would disapprove of his new occupation, he starred anonymously in this role, but was nonetheless a huge success. This role proved to be so successful that Garrick starred in the play 82 more times. Other popular roles he played were Ranger in the Suspicious Husband (121 times) and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing (113 times).

Garrick in MacBeth, 1760

Prior to Garrick, the roles played by actors were very static. In Method to Learn to Design the Passions, Le Brun laid out the rules for acting which were to be studied meticulously and imitated detail for detail. These directions were explicit in how to portray a particular emotion, based on the idea that every emotion has a very specific response that could be imitated. Therefore, if the actor was to portray horror, he would open his eyes wide and extend all five fingers ofhis right hand. According to another author, Quintillian, the role of the actor was to "discriminate between eccentric and normal gestures and sounds, for he had nothing to do with the merely personal responses of individual men. His function, if Aristotle was right, was to represent the universal actions and passions of men - not as variable quirks of temperament, but as permanent elements of human character. ..the result of this train of reasoning was a businesslike formulation of rules for the expression of emotion."

What made Garrick so unique was that his acting style went so far beyond any of the styles of his contemporaries. Though he did use the traditional styles outlined by Le Brun, the basis for his acting was that he would get into every character he played and show that individual's particular emotions. Utilizing the little known Thomas Heywood's "sympathetic" style, Garrick would use the universal descriptions and vary them according to the individuals being portrayed. Its impossible to downplay the importance of this shift in styles or the tremendous popularity that Garrick achieved through its practice.

Garrick using traditional Le Brun acting style

In addition to transforming the acting styles of l8th century theatre, Garrick also worked to raise the prestige of the theatre. As the manager of Drury Lane Theatre for 30 years, Garrick would only allow the best plays to be performed and changed many practices to make the theatre more respectable. He stopped allowing wealthy guests to sit on the apron of the stage and stopped allowing latecomers to get in for half-price. He was continually working to improve the technical aspects of the theatre by experimenting with lighting, setting, and costumes.

Garrick's contributions to the theatre are quite extensive and he is certainly one of the largest personalities in the world of 18th century drama. Having worked in acting, managing, producing, and stage technicalities, Garrick was an accomplished expert in just about all aspects of the theatre and contributed more to modern theatre than almost any of his contemporaries. Give him a hand.

SECONDARY SOURCES
David Garrick and Le Brun's Method to Learn to Design Passions. Accessed March 27,2001.
The Man Who Made Shakespear Famous. Accessed March 27,2001.
White, Anita. David Garrick. Accessed March 27, 2001.

COLLY CIBBER 1671-1757
Corinne Meier

Cibber's father was a Danish/English sculptor who was appointed to the King's closet for services to William III of England.

Cibber only attended school until he was 16, and in 1688 - with his father - he enlisted in the Devonshire volunteers to support William of Orange.

In 1690 he joined the Drury Lane Theater as an actor. Unfortunately, he was unable to find his "niche" and was not successful as an actor until after 1696 when he wrote Love's Last Shift - which was considered the first sentimental comedy. It was about a man (Loveless) who leaves his wife (Amanda) to travel abroad. He looses all his money and returns to England. Amanda disguises herself and seduces him. When he finds out it was she, he reforms and vows to love her. Cibber wrote the play to make money and also to create a role for himself as Sir Novelty Fashion. Through this role he established a reputation as an actor.

In 1700 he produced an adaptation of Richard III, which became the preferred acting version until 1871, when the original version was restored. In 1711 he became the manager of Drury Lane Theater. After Queen Anne's death, Cibber became political and started writing plays in support of the Whig cause, such as The Non-Juror in 1717. Because of his skill, energy and political ideas, he was appointed poet laureate in 1730. Many people, including Cibber himself, thought he was unsuited to be a poet by nature, and many of his official odes were severely ridiculed.

In 1740 Cibber published An Apology For the Life of Colley Cibber, Comedian which told about his childhood experiences, young activities, his theater career, and observations of theater people and events. He gives factual accounts of the stage from the beginning of the restoration until the mid 1730's. He also praised whom he thought of as the greatest actors/actresses of all time. He wrote of his own first significant acting role as a chaplain in Otway's The Orphan and the prologue to Love's Last Shift. He also is very open and honest about his inadequacies as a tragic actor and his success as a villain.

In 1734 Cibber retired from theater management but his last stage appearance was not until 1745 in his own adaptation of King John.

Colley Cibber wrote over thirty plays. He was considered not very original but more known for adapting other poets' works. He adapted plays by Shakespeare, Beaumont, Moliere, Dryden, as well as others.

SECONDARY SOURCES
http://shakespeare.eb.com/shakespeare/micro/128/20.html

CHARLOTTE CHARKE
Catherine Leibowitz

Charlotte Charke, born in London in 1713, was the daughter of Colly Cibber and the youngest of eleven children in a famously unconventional family. She was a novelist, autobiographer and actress, but was notably known for being a cross-dresser. Though she was not the only cross-dressing actress of her day, she was certainly unique in her predilection for wearing men's clothing both on and off stage. In 1730, at seventeen years old, she married a violinist named Richard Charke with whom she had a daughter, Catherine, less than a year after the marriage. It was thought the Charlotte probably married for the sole purpose of leaving home, for Richard Charke proved to not exactly be the ideal husband. After squandering all their money on prostitutes, he eventually made his way out of her life, leaving her with a child and many debtors. In an effort to pay off their debts and earn enough money on which to live, Charlotte went through many jobs. She was a sausage vendor, a puppet master, a waiter, a pig farmer, a fairground performer, a gentleman's gentleman, a writer and, eventually, an actress. The first role of her acting career was as Mademoiselle in 'The Provok'd Wife'. Though she was not known as the best of actresses, she did land such roles as Macheath in The Beggar's Opera, Rodrigo in Othello, George in The London Merchant, and even created the role of Lucy in The London Merchant.

Charlotte Charke lived as a cross-dresser for almost fifteen years, and became known as Mr. Charles Brown. In an endeavor to understand the reason for her cross-dressing, people came to many conclusions. Some thought she did it to escape from her debtors. Others thought that she found herself with more opportunities as a man in a man's world. There were even some who believed that it was simply because she was a transvestite. Though there is no evidence to the validity of this possibility, she did, in fact, live openly with a woman for almost ten years. Charke's life as a cross-dresser was met with a lot of scrutiny. In fact, she was even labeled as "one of the disgraces to the community that ought not to be admitted to society". In an attempt to atone for herself to those that scrutinized her, particularly her disapproving father, she wrote an autobiography in 1755 called Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke. In this book, she addresses the challenges of her life, the experiences she endured, and the treatment she faced. She also attends to the conditions of lower and middle-class life, and the difficulty in being a woman trying to survive in a man's world. Still met with disapproval by her father (who probably never even read the autobiography), he, as well as her brother, Theophilus, eventually disowned Charke. In response to their treatment of her, she wrote a play called The Art of Management, which is an attack against them. When he died, Colly Cibber only left his daughter five pounds, meant as more of an insult than nothing. Charlotte herself died in 1760.

SECONDARY SOURCES

SAMUEL FOOTE
Tiffany Guglielmetti

Samuel Foote was an English actor, wit and playwright; humorist and dramatist best known for his gift of mimicry, which he often directed at his peers and other respectable people of his time.

Born in 1720 in the town of Truro, there are conflicting stories about the place of Foote's birth. Some stories claim that he was born at the Red Lion Inn on Boscawen Street; though it is most likely he was born at the home of a Johnson Vivian just next door. Foote was baptized on January 27, 1720 at St. Mary's Church in Truro. Foote was born into a well-known family; his father was particularly well known as a somewhat important political figure in the town of Truro. His father is said to have been a very useful magistrate, Member of Parliament for Tiverton, Commissioner of the Prize Office, and Receiver of Fines for the Duchy. Foote's mother, Eleanor, was the only daughter of Sir Goodere, a Baronet.

From a young age, Foote was always the jokester, always the prankster. He liked to amuse and entertain others with his developing skill of mimicry, even while in grade school. While attending Worcester Grammar-School, Foote is reported to have pulled off the following prank: The church belonging to the college fronted the side of a lane where cattle were sometimes turned out to graze during the night, and from the steeple hung the bell-rope, very low in the middle of the outside porch. Foote saw in this an object likely to produce some fun, and immediately set about to accomplish his purpose. He accordingly one night slyly tied a wisp of hay to the rope, as bait for the cows in their peregrination to the grazing-ground. The scheme succeeded to his wish. One of the cows soon after smelling the hay, as she passed by the church door, instantly seized on it, and, by tugging at the rope, made the bell ring, to the astonishment of the sexton and the whole parish (Fitzgerald 14).

After Worcester Grammar-School, Foote attended Worcester College, but eventually left without taking a degree in January 1740. His leaving came as a relief to administrators and professors, who constantly ran into problems with Foote, and his mimicries and lackadaisical attitude, which interfered with his schoolwork.

Foote spent the next four years touring taverns and coffeehouses, showcasing and perfecting his abilities of mimicry. After exhausting all his inheritance in this manner, Foote turned to the theater in 1744. Foote did not find great success in his early work as an actor, until he was given the opportunity to showcase his talent for mimicry when playing in the Duke of Buckingham's The Rehearsal. His popularity began to rise from this role, and it would pave the way for his future successes.

In 1747, Foote presented his first show, which he titled "The Diversions of the Morning," at the Haymarket Theatre. A script was never printed up, for the show was a collection of mimicries mostly ridiculing the stage, the behind-the-scenes life, and certain actors and celebrities of the time. Foote's popularity grew tremendously after his first show. Shortly after his first show, Foote began to title his entertainments "teas," so as to avoid the constraints of the Licensing Act, which required that patents be obtained for any public performances.

For the rest of his career, Foote would find great success in these entertainments that showcased his mimicry. Due to the nature of his entertainment, a definitive list of his shows is hard to come by; most were never even printed up. In 1753, Foote attempted to return to the stage as an actor, only to find he was unsuccessful in anything but his own teas or plays. Known for often exploiting his own misfortunes for a laugh, Foote wrote The Devil Upon Two Sticks and The Lame Lover, ridiculing himself after he fell from a horse in 1766 and broke his leg, which then had to be amputated. Foote included himself in the highest of London society, and was also a great friend of David Garrick, who is said to have claimed the only way he avoided Foote's public ridicule was through flattery.

Despite all his success and popularity, even with those he ridiculed, Foote finally pushed things too far in 1777. "Agents of the notorious Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, whom Foote had satirized in A Trip to Calais and The Capuchin, retaliated with such persistence that he was compelled to quite the stage" (Britannica.com)

Foote died later that year, on October 21st, 1777, at 57 years old, from a sudden fit of convulsions. His last words are said to have been: "What a fool I have been!" (372).

SECONDARY SOURCES

SARAH SIDDONS
Brian Brennan

The famed stage actress Sarah Siddons was born on July 5, 1755 at the Shoulder of Mutton Inn in the town of Brecon to Roger Kemble and Sally Ward Kemble. Her iron-willed mother belonged to the Protestant faith, while her kindly, if more lacadaisical, father was a Catholic. In keeping with the dictates of the law on such "mixed" marriages, the boys were raised in their father's faith, while the girls were raised in their mother's.

The Kembles had a relatively successful provinical theatre company that they inherited from Sally's father, John Ward. There were twelve chidren in the family, all of whom were put on the stage at an early age. Several pursued acting as a career in adulthood, but only one besides Sarah, John Philip Kemble, would become famous. He was an actor, and later the manager of Drury Lane.

If the Kembles were settled in one place for more than a few days, an extreme rarity, they took advantages of the local schools. Sarah, therefore received a fairly substantial education, for a girl from a family that was constantly moving on. Sarah's mother taught her singing and elocution. For a time, she even attended (free of charge) an exclusive girls' boarding school, Thonloe House, where she was shunned by her well-born classmates.

Sarah's parents, particularly her mother, were very concerned with propriety and respectablity. Travelling actors at this time had a reputation for thievery and profligacy, and Sally Kemble was determined that her family would be regarded differently. They were naturally pleased when their 17-year-old daughter Sarah received an offer of marriage from a minor country squire named Evans. But by this time, Sarah had already fallen in love with William Siddons, a handsome, second-string actor in her parents' company. Her parents opposed the match, ironically in much the same manner and for the same reasons that their own had been opposed by Sally's father. Siddons was fired from the company and Sarah was placed as a companion/servant in a family of titled aristocrats. After two years of wrangling, however, the Kembles bent to the young people's wishes, and the marriage took place.

Mr. and Mrs. Siddons acted for a time with her parents company, until moving on to other provincial companies. While performing in Cheltenham, Sarah caught the attention of the Hon. Henrietta Boyle, and her stepfather, Lord Bruce. The two became her patrons, paying for such things as costumes, and Lord Bruce recommended Sarah to David Garrick. Sarah and William then went to London, where Sarah worked for Garrick during his last season at Drury Lane for a weekly salary of five pounds. She debuted as Portia in The Merchant of Venice. She was not a success. Debilitated by nervousness and by the recent birth of her second child (she would have seven children in all), she flopped miserably, and her contract at Drury Lane was not renewed for the following season.

The next seven years were not entirely without success, however. Sarah performed primarily in the fashionable bathing places of Bath and Bristol, but also toured in the fairly large cities of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and York. She was therefore seen by large numbers of people and increased her confidence and her fan-base. Still, things were hardly easy. Her average weekly salary was only three pounds, on which to support her husband (who only took acting jobs as they were offered, which was not often) and her growing family.

Sarah made a triumphant return to Drury Lane on October 10, 1782 as the title character in Covent Garden. When she first returned to Drury Lane, her salary was 8 pounds per week but it quickly climbed to 50. In 1783, only one year after her return to London, she was hired to teach elocution to the children of the royal family. She eventually won the patronage of the king and queen, as well as of such powerful personages as the Duchess of Devonshire. As early as 1786, she had achieved her goal of earning 10,000 pounds. She lived in affluence for the rest of her life in homes in London and the countryside.

Some of Siddons's more noted roles were Belvidiera in Otway's "Venice Preserv'd, Jane Shore in The Tragedy of Jane Shore, Katherine in Henry VIII, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She tended to avoid comedy.

Sarah Siddons died at age 76 on June 8, 1831 in Regent's Park. She had retired twenty years earlier with a farewell performance as Lady Macbeth. No less than 5,000 mourners attended her funeral in Paddington Church.

SECONDARY SOURCES

CHARLES MACKLIN
Andrew Hopkins

Charles Macklin was an Irish actor, and playwright born in 1700. His career, though very turbulent spanned most of the 18th century. He had a very restless childhood, and began his acting career in 1716 with a company of strolling players. In 1720 he joined the Bath Company. Then in 1725 he was engaged by Rich for Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theater. It was there he became known as the wild-Irishman. He gained the reputation for being a great five’s player, a great lover, boxer and pedestrian. On December 4, 1730, Macklin appeared at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in Fielding’s Coffee House Politician. After that he went to Drury Lane Theater under Fleetwood and played secondary part as his career began to slow a bit. In 1735 he stabbed another actor in the eye in a dispute over a wig. Although he was prosecuted on manslaughter charges he received no sentence.

In 1741 Macklin convinced management to revive Merchant of Venice and became famous overnight for his Shylock. This was what he was most remembered for having saved Shylock from the crudities of the low comedian whom the part had been assigned since restoration days. Macklin brought him to the status of a dignified and tragic figure. After this pinnacle of his career he moved from theater to theater, played parts ranging from Iago in Foote’s Othello, and the Ghost and the Gravedigger to his Hamlet. He appeared intermittently from 1750-1789 at Covent Garden. It was the there he played Mercutio to Barry’s Romeo and Juliet and also played Macbeth. In this play in 1772 he used a Scottish dress as an attempt to achieve historical accuracy in costuming. He was notorious for his violent temper and behavior. It was after this that he began to do a lot of off-stage work, constantly engaging in litigation, often with his managers.

Macklin went bankrupt after opening a tavern, and then later opened a school. It was here he became an excellent teacher of acting. He was twice married, first in 1749 and again 1787, and all of his children died before he did. His daughter Maria first appeared in Richard III, in 1742 at Drury Lane Theater.

He was an unsuccessful playwright although two of his plays, Love a la Mode (1759), and The Man of the World (1781) received much praise.

SECONDARY SOURCES