ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATER | The Lady Actress

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 4, 202312 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and “All That Glitters is Not Gold” - Part I

PART I: JOHN MADDISON MORTON AND HIS OTHER PLAY Originally posted Oct. 24, 2022 In any well-rounded streaming service that delivers...

Jul 29, 202313 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and The Lady in Dublin

Part XIV: THE NOBLE HEART OF GUSTAVUS V. BROOKE Originally posted Sept. 6, 2021 [This is a continuation of my multi-part series of...

Jul 28, 202318 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and The Lady at the Olympic

Part XII: IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY GHOSTWRITER… Originally published August 23, 2021 [This is a continuation of my multi-part series of...

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 23, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Juanna, and the London Critics

Originally posted on March 29, 2021 Last week I began a survey of reviews of G.H. Lewes “Noble Heart” in its London première at the...

Jul 22, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Noble Heart, and the London Critics

Originally published March 22, 2021 In the winter of 1850, G. H. Lewes was a noted, if controversial, member of London’s intelligentsia....

Jul 22, 202312 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, G.H. Lewes, and The (Silent) Noble Heart

Originally posted on March 15, 2021 It looks now as if this blog entry will not be posted until mid-March, however I am writing it on the...

Jul 22, 20238 min read

The Lost Plays of Walter Watts – Which Is the King? Part II

Originally published March 8, 2021 Mistaken identity or characters in disguise are plot complications featured in dramatic texts the...

Jul 5, 202318 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt in the Forest of Arden

Originally published Nov. 16, 2020 There is perhaps no more perfect encapsulation of the ambiguity of the Victorian stance towards the...

Jul 4, 20238 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Cecil Howard

Originally published Oct. 26, 2020 I hope that by now you have had an opportunity to listen to our recording of Henry Spicer’s...

Jul 4, 20235 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Henry Spicer’s “Witch-Wife”

Originally posted Oct. 19, 2020 For the next two weeks, I’ve planned to write about a drama written expressly as a starring vehicle for...

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 3, 202311 min read

Mr. Watts and the Extortionists

Originally posted Sept. 21, 2020 When I said that Walter Watts had a relatively good reputation for London theatrical manager of the...

Jul 3, 20237 min read

The Fall of Walter Watts

Originally published Sept. 7, 2020 Doubtlessly, I have given you the impression that the Watts Scandal blew up and broke quickly in the...

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, 202313 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Walter Watts’ Irish Engagement

Originally posted July 6, 2020 This week I’m going to take a little break from a narrow focus on Anna Cora Mowatt and talk about the one...