Helena Faucit
Encyclopedia
Helena Saville Faucit, Lady Martin (11 October 1817 – 31 October 1898) was an English actress.
, she was the daughter of actors John Saville Faucit and Harriet Elizabeth Savill. Her parents divorced when she was a girl, and her mother married William Farren
in 1825. With her elder sister Harriet, she was trained for the stage by her step-uncle, Percy Farren. She debuted as Juliet
at a small theater in Richmond in 1833. Her performance was praised by critics of The Athenaeum
, but Farren delayed her professional debut to give her further training.
as Julia in James Sheridan Knowles
's The Hunchback. Her debut, a spectacular success, placed her at once among the leading actresses in London, helping to fill the void left by the retirement of Fanny Kemble
in 1834. Her success in The Hunchback was followed by turns as Belvidera in Thomas Otway
's Venice Preserv'd
, and as Margaret in Joanna Baillie
's The Separation. Though her interpretation of Belvidera was received coldly by critics, she remained a favorite of playgoers; already in that first season, she was signed to a three-year contract at Covent Garden.
joined the Covent Garden company in the middle of 1836. In the following year, Faucit played numerous Shakespearean roles, among them Juliet, Imogen (Cymbeline
), Hermione (The Winter's Tale
), and Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing
), alongside both Macready and the soon-to-retire Charles Kemble
. Her non-Shakespearean roles during the three years at Covent Garden included the female leads in Lytton
's Duchess de la Vallikre, Lady of Lyons, Richelieu, The Sea Captain, and Money, in Robert Browning
's Strafford, and in Knowles's Woman's Wit.
Faucit followed Macready to the Haymarket Theatre
in 1840; in December of that year, however, she suffered an attack of a recurrent lung ailment. While she recuperated at the coast, rumors circulated that she was pregnant with Macready's child; her physicians published diagnoses that scotched these rumors. She returned to the Haymarket the next year, when she performed in Zouch Troughton's Nina Sforza and Lytton's Money.
After a visit to Paris
and a short season at the Haymarket
, she joined the Drury Lane
company under Macready early in 1842. There she played Lady Macbeth
, Constance in King John, Desdemona
, and Imogen, and took part in the first production of John Westland Marston
's
Patrician's Daughter (1842) and Browning's Blot on the Scutcheon (1843).
Her Lady Macbeth of the 1843 season was, however, a failure; Macready found her conception deficient in "heart", and she was physically unable to achieve the commanding presence of Sarah Siddons
, as Macready wished. She was, moreover passed over for Rosalind in favour of Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett
; this role would later become one of her best-known Shakespearean roles. Nevertheless Macready considered her "beyond all compare" the best English actress of the period.
at Dublin, and various Shakespearean roles, including a revamped and now-successful Lady Macbeth. Acting with Macready in Paris in 1845, she received so much applause that Macready was jealous, and the two did not act together again.
Faucit occasionally returned to London, but her main activity for the remainder of her career was touring, especially in Manchester
and in Sheffield
, where her brother owned a theater. In 1846 she returned to Dublin to perform in Euripides
' Iphigenia at Aulis, which proved as popular as her Antigone had been the previous year. She also acted as Iolanthe in Theodore Martin
's King Rene's Daughter. In October 1846 she took the part of Juliet to the Romeo of Gustavus Brooke
at Dublin.
Martin, the official biographer of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had begun courting her as early as 1843; she finally accepted his proposal in 1851.
In 1851 she married Theodore Martin
, who was later knighted, making her Lady Martin. She continued to act occasionally for charity. One of her last appearances was as Beatrice, on the opening of the Shakespeare Memorial at Stratford-on-Avon on 23 April 1879. In 1881 there appeared in Blackwood's Magazine
the first of her Letters on some of Shakespeares Heroines, which were published in book form as On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters (1885).
Lady Martin died at her home near Llangollen
in 1898, aged 82. There is a tablet dedicated to her in the church of St Tysilio. There is also a tablet to her in the Shakespeare Memorial with a portrait figure, and the marble pulpit in the Shakespeare church with her portrait as Saint Helena was given in her memory by her husband. She is buried in Brompton Cemetery
, London.
Early life
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, she was the daughter of actors John Saville Faucit and Harriet Elizabeth Savill. Her parents divorced when she was a girl, and her mother married William Farren
William Farren
William Farren , English actor, was born the son of an actor of the same name, who played leading roles from 1784 to 1795 at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.-Life:...
in 1825. With her elder sister Harriet, she was trained for the stage by her step-uncle, Percy Farren. She debuted as Juliet
Juliet
Juliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself....
at a small theater in Richmond in 1833. Her performance was praised by critics of The Athenaeum
Athenaeum (magazine)
The Athenaeum was a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921. It had a reputation for publishing the very best writers of the age....
, but Farren delayed her professional debut to give her further training.
Early career
Faucit's first professional appearance was made on 5 January 1836 at Covent GardenRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
as Julia in James Sheridan Knowles
James Sheridan Knowles
James Sheridan Knowles , Irish dramatist and actor, was born in Cork.-Biography:His father was the lexicographer James Knowles , cousin of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The family removed to London in 1793, and at the age of fourteen Knowles published a ballad entitled The Welsh Harper, which, set to...
's The Hunchback. Her debut, a spectacular success, placed her at once among the leading actresses in London, helping to fill the void left by the retirement of Fanny Kemble
Fanny Kemble
Frances Anne Kemble , was a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century.-Youth and acting career:...
in 1834. Her success in The Hunchback was followed by turns as Belvidera in Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd .-Life:...
's Venice Preserv'd
Venice Preserv'd
Venice Preserv'd is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was staged first in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera...
, and as Margaret in Joanna Baillie
Joanna Baillie
Joanna Baillie was a Scottish poet and dramatist. Baillie was very well known during her lifetime and, though a woman, intended her plays not for the closet but for the stage. Admired both for her literary powers and her sweetness of disposition, she hosted a brilliant literary society in her...
's The Separation. Though her interpretation of Belvidera was received coldly by critics, she remained a favorite of playgoers; already in that first season, she was signed to a three-year contract at Covent Garden.
Career with Macready
William Charles MacreadyWilliam Charles Macready
-Life:He was born in London, and educated at Rugby.It was his intention to go up to Oxford, but in 1809 the embarrassed affairs of his father, the lessee of several provincial theatres, called him to share the responsibilities of theatrical management. On 7 June 1810 he made a successful first...
joined the Covent Garden company in the middle of 1836. In the following year, Faucit played numerous Shakespearean roles, among them Juliet, Imogen (Cymbeline
Cymbeline
Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
), Hermione (The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
), and Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
), alongside both Macready and the soon-to-retire Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble was a British actor.-Life:The youngest son of Roger Kemble, and younger brother of John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble and Sarah Siddons, he was born at Brecon, South Wales. Like John Philip, he was educated at Douai...
. Her non-Shakespearean roles during the three years at Covent Garden included the female leads in Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English politician, poet, playwright, and novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling dime-novels which earned him a considerable fortune...
's Duchess de la Vallikre, Lady of Lyons, Richelieu, The Sea Captain, and Money, in Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
's Strafford, and in Knowles's Woman's Wit.
Faucit followed Macready to the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
in 1840; in December of that year, however, she suffered an attack of a recurrent lung ailment. While she recuperated at the coast, rumors circulated that she was pregnant with Macready's child; her physicians published diagnoses that scotched these rumors. She returned to the Haymarket the next year, when she performed in Zouch Troughton's Nina Sforza and Lytton's Money.
After a visit to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and a short season at the Haymarket
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
, she joined the Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
company under Macready early in 1842. There she played Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth (Shakespeare)
Lady Macbeth is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Macbeth . She is the wife to the play's protagonist, Macbeth, a Scottish nobleman. After goading him into committing regicide, she becomes Queen of Scotland, but later suffers pangs of guilt for her part in the crime...
, Constance in King John, Desdemona
Desdemona (Othello)
Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello . Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a man several years her senior. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the...
, and Imogen, and took part in the first production of John Westland Marston
John Westland Marston
John Westland Marston was an English dramatist.Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Marston wrote several plays, including Strathmore and Marie de Méranie...
's
Patrician's Daughter (1842) and Browning's Blot on the Scutcheon (1843).
Her Lady Macbeth of the 1843 season was, however, a failure; Macready found her conception deficient in "heart", and she was physically unable to achieve the commanding presence of Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
, as Macready wished. She was, moreover passed over for Rosalind in favour of Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett
Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett
Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett , English actress, was the daughter of Frederick Hayes Macnamara, an actor, whose stage name was Mordaunt....
; this role would later become one of her best-known Shakespearean roles. Nevertheless Macready considered her "beyond all compare" the best English actress of the period.
After Macready
When Macready left for America in 1843, Faucit emerged as an even greater celebrity. In the mid-1840s she toured in Scotland and Ireland. Her most celebrated roles included Pauline in Lady of Lyons at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, AntigoneAntigone (Sophocles)
Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 442 BC. Chronologically, it is the third of the three Theban plays but was written first...
at Dublin, and various Shakespearean roles, including a revamped and now-successful Lady Macbeth. Acting with Macready in Paris in 1845, she received so much applause that Macready was jealous, and the two did not act together again.
Faucit occasionally returned to London, but her main activity for the remainder of her career was touring, especially in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, where her brother owned a theater. In 1846 she returned to Dublin to perform in Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Iphigenia at Aulis, which proved as popular as her Antigone had been the previous year. She also acted as Iolanthe in Theodore Martin
Theodore Martin
Sir Theodore Martin KCB KCVO was a Scottish poet, biographer, and translator.-Biography:Martin was the son of James Martin, a solicitor in Edinburgh, where Theodore was born and educated at the Royal High School and University...
's King Rene's Daughter. In October 1846 she took the part of Juliet to the Romeo of Gustavus Brooke
Gustavus Vaughan Brooke
Gustavus Vaughan Brooke was an Irish stage actor who enjoyed success in Ireland, England and Australia.-Early life:...
at Dublin.
Martin, the official biographer of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had begun courting her as early as 1843; she finally accepted his proposal in 1851.
Career after marriage
Theodore Martin
Sir Theodore Martin KCB KCVO was a Scottish poet, biographer, and translator.-Biography:Martin was the son of James Martin, a solicitor in Edinburgh, where Theodore was born and educated at the Royal High School and University...
, who was later knighted, making her Lady Martin. She continued to act occasionally for charity. One of her last appearances was as Beatrice, on the opening of the Shakespeare Memorial at Stratford-on-Avon on 23 April 1879. In 1881 there appeared in Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
the first of her Letters on some of Shakespeares Heroines, which were published in book form as On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters (1885).
Lady Martin died at her home near Llangollen
Llangollen
Llangollen is a small town and community in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, situated on the River Dee and on the edge of the Berwyn mountains. It has a population of 3,412.-History:...
in 1898, aged 82. There is a tablet dedicated to her in the church of St Tysilio. There is also a tablet to her in the Shakespeare Memorial with a portrait figure, and the marble pulpit in the Shakespeare church with her portrait as Saint Helena was given in her memory by her husband. She is buried in Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...
, London.
See also
- Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States, edited by Matthews and Hutton (New York, 1886)
- Sir Theodore Martin, Helena Faucit (London, 1900)