THEATRICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY | The Lady Actress 3/3

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 13, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Gulzara, and the Well-Made Play

Originally posted on March 1, 2021 Parlor theatricals were a popular culture phenomenon of the Victorian era. As such they have received...

Jul 10, 202316 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the March Sisters versus the Ogden Sisters

Originally published Feb. 8, 2021 Without doubt, the most famous parlor theatrical in the history of literature is the “operatic tragedy”...

Jul 10, 202315 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Evelyn, and the Tableaux Vivant

Originally posted Jan. 25, 2021 Victorian tableaux vivant existed in a gauzy liminal safe space halfway between games and theatre. In the...

Jul 8, 20237 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Gertrude, and Blanche

Originally published Jan. 18, 2021 [Librivox’s recording of this play can be heard here.] Although she was called upon to play the...

Jul 7, 202313 min read

Mr. and Mrs. Mowatt

Originally posted Jan. 4, 2021 Dear Reader, pure of heart and mind as doubtlessly you are, I know you do not waste much time pondering...

Jul 7, 20239 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Armand, and Uncle Sam

Originally published on Dec. 28, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) Perhaps the most incredible thing that I...

Jul 7, 20238 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Armand, and the Museum Crowd

Originally published Dec. 21, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) Last week, I talked about the triumph of...

Jul 5, 202311 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Woman Who Didn’t Write “Fashion”

Originally posted on Dec. 7, 2020 Anna Cora Mowatt’s success as a playwright in the spring of 1845 was as unprecedented as it was...

Jul 5, 20239 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and a Pair of “Breeches”

Originally published Nov. 30, 2020 As a woman who simultaneously achieved international fame as both a playwright and an actress, Anna...

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 5, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Her Lady Romeos – Part II

Originally published Nov. 6, 2020 Last week, listening to several interviews with Tana Wojczuk, author of a new book on the life of...

Jul 4, 20239 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Matthew Hopkins, the Witch-Finder

Originally published Nov. 2, 2020 After reading up on the historical Matthew Hopkins, I think we’re remiss not to number “witch-finder”...

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, 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, 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 1, 20236 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Princess Zuela — Part II

Originally posted Feb. 10, 2020 Last week, I know that I said that I thought Anna Cora Mowatt had used “Harlequin Fairy-land,” a...

Jul 1, 20236 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Princess Zuela

Originally published Feb. 3, 2020 While researching for this blog, I found a newspaper advertisement that ran in the Sunday edition of...