Ellen Terry and Her SistersPemberton, T. Edgar (Thomas Edgar)
History
Ellen Terry and Her Sisters
Pemberton, T. Edgar (Thomas Edgar)
Actresses -- Great Britain -- Biography; Terry, Ellen, Dame, 1847-1928
Twenty-six fruitful years have elapsed since the foregoing criticism was
written, and we can be wise after the event. Joseph Knight has proved
himself to be a good prophet, but by the light of to-day we know that he
might have added to his list of Shakespearean characters within Ellen
Terry's range. To the regret of all, we have not yet seen her Rosalind
and Miranda, but she has triumphed as Viola and Imogen, and (though she
did not satisfy every one in the part) has proved that her physical and
artistic resources were equal to the portrayal of the passion and sorrow
of Juliet. She has shone as Beatrice, Cordelia, Desdemona, Lady Anne,
and Ophelia; she has astonished us and excited our admiration as Queen
Katherine and Lady Macbeth, and has even made a great personal success
as the determined Volumnia. Add to these the Mamillius, Puck, Prince
Arthur, Katherine, and other parts of earlier days, and we see what a
Shakespearean record has been made.
During her engagement at the Prince of Wales' Theatre, she also appeared
as Clara Douglas in Lord Lytton's comedy, "Money"; as Mabel Vane in
Charles Reade's and Tom Taylor's "Masks and Faces"; and as Blanche Haye
in one of the many revivals of T. W. Robertson's "Ours." In each of
these characters her peculiar grace and distinction, coupled with
tenderness, were apparent, but none of them offered her a chance worthy
of her now fully recognised power. In H. J. Byron's comedy, "Wrinkles;
or, A Tale of Time," she was doomed to disappointment. Byron, as a
writer for the stage, was then in the zenith of his fame. Everywhere his
comedies and burlesques were in demand, and it was only natural that he
should receive a commission for a play from his old friends the
Bancrofts. Writing for the best comedy company in London, and with Ellen
Terry, the idol of the hour, designed for his heroine, he no doubt
intended to produce his masterpiece; but, somehow, "Wrinkles" failed.
Indeed, on the first night, failure was in the air. Not only did the
piece prove unattractive in itself, but (a most unusual thing for any
play directed by the Bancrofts) it seemed hardly ready for production.
Hereby hangs a characteristic story of poor Byron. At the end of the
third act ("Wrinkles" possessed four), though no open hostility had been
displayed, his dramatic instinct told him that his work was doomed.
Inwardly suffering the torments of the defeated playwright, but
outwardly putting on a brave show of _nonchalance_, he lounged about the
front of the house. The long waits between the acts had already been a
source of dissatisfaction, and now had come the weariest interval of
all. Added to this, sounds were heard behind the act-drop as of a
carpenter sawing wood, suggesting--ominously suggesting--that the
scenery was defective. "What on earth are they doing, Byron?" asked a
friend. The poor author was gloomy and dejected, but, even at his own
expense, he could never resist a joke. "I don't know," he said, "but _I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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