Julian Day, a scholar with a background in international publishing and arts development, delves into the fascinating intersection of periodicals, theatre, and actresses in 18th-century London. His research, stemming from his MA in ‘Shakespeare and the Theatre’, sheds light on the professional landscapes of this era, particularly the precarious nature of fame for women in the limelight.
Alt text: Mezzotint engraving of Anne Brown (Mrs Cargill) as ‘Clara’ from The Duenna, showcasing 18th-century actress celebrity.
Alt text: Mezzotint print of Mrs Mary Wells as ‘Cowslip’ in The Agreeable Surprise, exemplifying idealized portrayals of famous 18th-century actresses.
The images above, featuring the celebrated 18th-century actresses Mrs Anne Cargill and Mrs Mary Wells, are sourced from digitized materials within Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship, Society and the Stage. These engravings, originally from Dramatic Annals: Critiques on Plays and Performance and a collection of performers’ letters, capture the actresses in their iconic stage roles: ‘Clara’ from The Duenna and ‘Cowslip’ from The Agreeable Surprise. These characters resonated deeply with audiences throughout the late 1700s.
These mezzotint engravings were not mere portraits; they were carefully crafted commodities, sold for sixpence as keepsakes of beloved actresses. They present an idealized vision of sentimental heroines from the popular English ‘ballad operas’, emphasizing youth and beauty rather than depicting actual performance moments. Both Anne Cargill and Mary Wells embodied the sought-after ‘nymph-like’ innocence, a crucial element for achieving fame and theatrical success in their time.
The ballad operas themselves, a fusion of music and drama, demanded a unique skillset from female performers. Successful productions enjoyed long runs, and their musical numbers became widely recognized. Playbills and advertisements frequently highlighted these performances as being presented ‘by particular desire’, indicating their popularity and the demand for repeat viewings.
However, beneath the surface of adoration lay a profound instability. This fragility stemmed from the very nature of desire and value placed upon these celebrated women. Their fame, while seemingly glamorous, positioned them precariously. Actresses were constantly vulnerable to press scrutiny and were often excluded from polite society due to their working-class origins and the stigma associated with prostitution. While modern academic research explores the phenomenon of actress celebrity in the 18th century, understanding their lives and careers remains challenging.
Alt text: Detail of Mary Wells ‘Cowslip’ engraving highlighting the constructed beauty ideals for 18th-century stage actresses.
The difficulty in grasping their true experiences arises from the reliance on unreliable historical sources. Press reports, often sensationalized and biased, and memoirs, potentially embellished or untruthful, are primary sources. Journalists frequently fixated on actresses’ private lives, constructing public personas built on scandal, rumor, and fabrication – a practice that sadly persists even today. Memoirs offered seemingly intimate glimpses into the lives of actresses, but their veracity is questionable. Even stage historians sometimes mistakenly accepted press narratives as factual accounts, resulting in fragmented and distorted portrayals of these individuals.
The printed images and stage roles of the 18th century confined actresses within rigid boundaries of feminine behavior. Characters like ‘Clara’ and ‘Cowslip’ were designed to be “consigned to passivity: they are to be the beautiful object of contemplation.” Yet, for Anne Cargill and Mary Wells, this carefully constructed image eventually clashed with reality when their actions deviated from these prescribed norms. The stage personas they embodied became entangled with their off-stage lives, creating a damaging “mismatch.”
Despite the passage of time, the remnants of these captivating performers persisted – in media representations, prints, and historical anecdotes. Their fame, paradoxically, placed them in a ‘hollow’ space where public perception overshadowed their authentic selves.
Intriguingly, Anne Cargill and Mary Wells, who shared the stage at the Haymarket Theatre and Drury Lane from 1780 to 1782, typically portrayed sentimental comic heroines. These roles, tailored for them, were characterized by happy resolutions and the absence of real suffering. However, their off-stage lives were marked by genuine misfortunes and tragedies, more akin to the dramatic fates found in Italian operas, where such “mismatches” often culminated in devastating outcomes.
(1) Miss Anne Brown, known as Mrs Cargill, debuted as ‘Clara’ in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Duenna or, Double Elopement in 1775.
(2) Mrs Mary Wells first played ‘Cowslip’ in John O’Keeffe’s ballad opera The Agreeable Surprise in 1781.
(3) For deeper exploration, see: Laura Engel, Fashioning Celebrity 18th century British Actresses and Strategies for Image Making; Perry Gill, Spectacular Flirtations; Felicity Nussbaum, Rival Queens Actresses Performance and the Eighteenth-Century British Theatre.
(4) Luce Irigaray, This Sex which is Not One, p.25-16.
Explore the complexities of fame and the 18th-century stage further through Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship, Society and the Stage, available now. Contact [email protected] for free trial access and pricing details. A detailed webinar is also available here. (Full access requires institutional license).
