CHARLES DICKENS | The Lady Actress

Dec 4, 202326 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Polkamania, and “The Serious Family” - Part III

Part III - Seriously Merry (A full cast recording of "The Serious Family" is available at Librivox) In 1849, comedian-turned-playwright...

Nov 6, 202328 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Polkamania, and “The Serious Family” - Part II

Part II -- Seriously Manic Before we begin in earnest, I must warn you that my opinions of the relative merits of “Le Mari à la Campagne”...

Aug 4, 202313 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Anne Blake - Part I

PART I: INTRIGUING, BUT LESS THAN GROUND-BREAKING Originally posted on March 6, 2023 [A recording of this play is available at Librivox]...

Aug 4, 202316 min read

The Wealth of Walter Watts vs. the Poverty of Bob Cratchit - Part II

PART II: THE PROPER PAYMENT OF CLERKS Originally posted December 19, 2022 [An abbreviated video version of this essay is available for...

Aug 4, 202310 min read

The Wealth of Walter Watts vs. the Poverty of Bob Cratchit - Part I

PART I: THE CHARACTER OF CLERKS Originally posted Dec. 1, 2022 [An abbreviated video version of this essay is available for viewing on...

Aug 3, 202320 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Mimic Life, and the Critics - Part III

PART III: PUBLICATION Originally posted August 22, 2022 Although January of 1856 is usually listed as the publication date of Mimic Life,...

Aug 3, 202321 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Mimic Life, and the Critics - Part II

PART II: THE PUSH Originally published August 8, 2022 [Given the response to my last entry, I am somewhat tempted to take a short...

Jul 30, 202311 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Author of “Ion”

PART II: THE BOY WHO LOVED TO DRAW SKELETONS Originally published Nov. 29, 2021 [This multi-part series of entries examines Anna Cora...

Jul 30, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and “Ion”

PART I: THE PLAY BEGINS WITH A PUNCH Originally posted Nov. 15, 2021 [This multi-part series of entries examines Anna Cora Mowatt’s...

Jul 28, 202313 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Pauline at the Olympic

PART XI: A PROFITABLE PERIOD OF UNEMPLOYMENT [This is a continuation of my multi-part series of entries examining Anna Cora Mowatt’s...

Jul 28, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Notes on G.H. Lewes’ “The Noble Heart”

Originally posted on July 12, 2021 I will return to my series on “The Lady of Lyons” next week, however, some months ago, a volunteer...

Jul 26, 202312 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and E.L. Davenport – Part III

DAVENPORT – THE STORIES – Part II Originally posted May 10, 2021 The career of E.L. Davenport bears witness to the fact that the man’s...

Jul 12, 20238 min read

A Movie That Was Not About Walter Watts

Originally posted on Feb. 15, 2023 If you are a fan of Charles Dickens or Derrek Jacobi, you have probably seen the acclaimed 1987 film...

Jul 4, 202314 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the London Critics

Originally Posted Oct. 12, 2020 Actors say, “I never read reviews.” This declaration is almost never literally true. What they actually...

Jul 4, 202313 min read

The Unsinkable Mrs. Warner

Originally published October 5, 2020 The year 1850 began so well for Mary Warner and Walter Watts. Their careers seemed to be right on...

Jul 3, 20239 min read

Warner/Macready and “Hamlet” at the Marylebone

Originally published August 17, 2020 As you may intuit from the title of this week’s blog, I am not yet ready to wrap up my series on...

Jul 3, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and The Rag-Picker of Paris

Originally published July 27, 2020 I want to start today’s entry with a complaint about standard volumes of nineteenth century theater...

Jul 2, 20237 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Cynical Mr. Stirling

Originally Posted on July 17, 2020 If I had written the story of the Watts Scandal as a melodrama and wished to cast it from the pool of...

Jul 2, 202320 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Real People behind the “Fairies”

Originally published June 29, 2020 At the time of this writing, I am working on a recording of an audiobook of Mowatt’s novel Fairy...

Jul 2, 20235 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and The Mute Singer

Originally posted June 18, 2020 At the end of the 1850’s, Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie experienced a creative renaissance of sorts. I qualify...