Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
Mary Saunderson (1637-1712, later known as Mary Saunderson Betterton after her marriage to Thomas Betterton) was an actress and singer in England during the 1660s and 1690s.[1] She is considered one of the first English actresses.
Her most notable accomplishments are her being the first female actress to portray several of Shakespeare's woman characters on the professional stage. She was the first to portray Juliet in Romeo and Juliet,[2] Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and other female roles in The Tempest, Hamlet (as Ophelia),[3] Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, King Lear.[1] In Shakespeare's day, female roles were played by young boys, as women and young girls were not allowed on the stage. By the 1660s, however, the laws in England had changed, allowing females to act professionally. Mary's connections through her husband, Thomas, who was also a famous actor, allowed her to play several significant roles.[1] She married her husband in 1662 and they took the young actress Anne Bracegirdle into their home.[3] Saunderson had a reputation for virtue; Colley Cibber described her as leading "an unblemish'd and sober life".
One of her earliest roles was in The Siege of Rhodes, taking over the role of Ianthe in place of a Mrs. Edward Coleman, whom many agreed had done very poorly in the role. Acting under the direction of William Davenant, Mary did very well, even to the point that she was frequently called Ianthe for the rest of her life. She sang in several of Aphra Behn's operas, and after Davenant died in 1668, her husband Thomas became co-manager of the company, and she continued to act in minor roles into the 1690s. Her final appearance was in John Dryden's last play, Love Triumphant, where she played the leading female role.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eklarsen/theatre.html#women
- ^ Halio, Jay. Romeo and Juliet. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998. pg. 100 ISBN 0-313-30089-5
- ^ a b Biography of Thomas Betterton
- Bloomsbury Guides to English literature: Augustan Literature
- Judith Milhous, ‘Betterton (Saunderson), Mary (c.1637–1712)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 Sept 2007
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Saunderson, Mary |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Betterton, Mary |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | 17th century Shakespearean actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1637 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1712 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
Annotations
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from L&M Companion entry for
Betterton, Thomas and Mary
[Thomas’s] wife Mary (b. Saunderson, ?1637-1712, m. 1662) was also a member of the Duke -
Here is the link to her husband (I don’t know how to copy more than one thing forward):
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/2307.phpAnd a chance to comment:
I like the birthdate preceded by a question mark. Coy, isn’t it? And, heavens, what etymology for a name like Bracegirdle!
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Mary’s pic, see Nigina Sawez’s essay “Women on Stage”(scroll half way down)-
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eklarsen/theatre.html
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from JWB’s link above:
An exception to these petty women was Mary Saunderson, one of the most famous actresses of the time. Following Mrs. Coleman’s dismal production of The Siege of Rhodes, Saunderson took over the role of Ianthe, and reportedly performed it so well that she was referred to as Ianthe for much of her life. Her unblemished reputation is often attributed to her early marriage to Thomas Betterton, himself a famous actor of the period. She is said to have loved and admired her husband inordinately, and the two even shared a professional partnership for the remainder of their lives.Saunderson was the first woman to play a female role in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet. While she made a name for herself with Shakespeare’s tragedies, she proved herself as an actress by showing she could perform, with equal brilliancy, in Aphra Behn’s comedies, and sing her way through D’Avenant’s operatic versions of Shakespeare. When D’Avenant died, Thomas Betterton took over his place in the theater, and he and Mary moved into it, working and living under the same roof. Once London’s two theaters united, Mary was forced into minor roles by a slew of younger, fresher actresses, and then disappeared from the stage for a while. She returned in 1690 and performed leading roles for three years, until her final appearance on stage in Dryden’s last play, Love Triumphant. Mary’s career outlasted that of the actresses with whom she had begun it, and even some of the generations after her.
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Just a word about the source http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eklarsen/theatre.html. It seems to be a page put together by a class; thus, it does not use the most recent, comprehensive, or reliable sources for its information. Some of its sections accept anecdote as fact, and it uses terms like “director” (neither the term nor the position existed, in a theatrical sense, in the 17c).