THE ‘QUEEN OF DRURY LANE’ – THE PIONEERING 18TH CENTURY ACTRESS INSPIRING A NEW PLAY

 

An actress with true ‘star power’, Sarah Siddons was one of the most famous performers of her day, but she had to work hard to maintain her public image. Playwright April De Angelis talks to Nick Smurthwaite at The Stage about what attracted her to Siddons’ life story.

 

As well as being a game-changer for women on stage, the 18th-century actress Sarah Siddons also redefined what it meant to be a celebrity. As a woman at that time, she may have lacked any legal rights, but she kept a beady eye on her public image.

 

In a new play, The Divine Mrs S, April De Angelis investigates the public and private faces of this remarkable woman – the Judi Dench of her day – who had London society at her feet for nearly three decades, yet whose career and earnings were presided over by the men in her life.

 

“Powerful women were regarded with the greatest suspicion,” says De Angelis. “They were vilified and, what we would call today, trolled. Sarah was incredibly famous but she never became personally rich because the men in her life controlled the business side. She finished up supporting her husband and his mistress.”

 

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So powerful and affecting were her performances that they gave rise to the expression ‘Siddons Fever’ to describe audience reaction. Fainting fits and hysteria were commonplace, and front of house did a brisk trade in smelling salts. On one occasion, theatregoers were said to have refused to believe that Siddons herself was not dead after a particularly convincing performance.

 

In her research for the play, De Angelis discovered that, in addition to being naturally charismatic, Siddons also worked hard at her craft.

 

“She was a grafter,” says the playwright. “She wasn’t just interested in her own performance like a lot of actors at that time, she read and studied the whole play, and she listened when other actors were speaking on stage.

 

She reinvented Lady Macbeth, against the advice of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who warned there would be a riot at Drury Lane if she went ahead with her interpretation.”

 

Read the full interview with The Stage through the link below.

 

The Divine Mrs S plays the Main Stage from 22 March to 27 April

 

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

BOOK THE DIVINE MRS S HERE