Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

To iill the Vc cant position - assu; dn^ its vacancy -
of le,dinj_, actress, s candidate would h&.ve to oo :;istross
of chci-m, beauty am:, to pie; so those uuci ptivsted by & lien
Terry, exceptional technical skill*
i. Mary Anderson
when Mary Anderson arrived in London, in the sur.irner of 14,63,
she v.-fw tv.enty-iour years old : Ellen Terry had been thirtythree
when, in the previous season, she appeared &r> Juliet
at the Lyceu: . Miss Anderson's stc^e debut had take-i place
only eight years previously, LI. en she played Juliet at
Macauley's sic Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky - she had
known Shakespe; re's jlays since the a&e of t-.e^c rnd, lil.e
Helen Feucit, h&c felt simultaneously the passion of
identification vith bhakecpeare 's i eroinoo a.to the ciesire
to represent them in public. The "olc red volu,:«j" had
beco:.)o "like e c aket filled v;ith je' els", v/hose "fltnes
ondf li.shes" might "glorify a life": the inter rut tion oi
the characters appec.red to be a public set of piety and c
fulfilment of the actress's emoti ms .
Charlotte Cus: r.i, n .;d ^iven the youn^ r spirant the
unusual acvice th t she should start at the top, cna this
she contrived to do, moving quicl:ly fron the indul^euc^ of
ho e-town audiences to the p.-..tr ML. t,c of eminent actors.
Considerable bo.-..uty L.-.C. L> chrrnint, ;::; r,.4i^r ep o-. en in p ci £i .-.iiiod
and poignant mauner. In A Fe:/ Me-iories . published in lo^\ ,
seven years rftor her withdr; wal fron the stc^e , the actress
doscribed l^ur leelin^s as she approrchea ^n, land in l£^3:
The chief ^ood ray v/ork litc acconplichoc , I folt,
v/as the aii-.o.-rrnce , vorbr lly a:.t by letto: ,
in^ny young ":e;i a»;ti i.one i th; t the examples of