Lottie Venne
Encyclopedia
Lottie Venne was a British
comedienne, actress and singer of the Victorian
and Edwardian eras, who enjoyed a theatre career spanning five decades. Venne began her stage career in musical burlesque before moving into farce
and comedy. She appeared in several works by each of F. C. Burnand and W. S. Gilbert
and was often in plays with Charles Hawtrey later in her career.
. In London, in 1870, Venne played Susan Piper in A Bull in a China Shop, a comedy by Charles Mathews
at the Haymarket Theatre
. At the same theatre, she appeared as Jemima in Rural Felicity by John Baldwin Buckstone
. In the early 1870s, she played many roles in musical burlesques such as Talfourd's Atalanta as Cupid
, Little Jack Sheppard
as Jonathan Wild (1871 on tour), Dr. Faust as Franz, Ixion as Cupid (1873), and Don Juan as Zerlina (1873 at the Alhambra Theatre
). She played Polly Twinkle in La vie Parisienne
in 1872 and, at the Court Theatre
, played in Christabel, Zampa, Lady Audley's Secret and others.
Venne played the role of Zayda in the 1873 play The Happy Land
by W. S. Gilbert
(under the pseudonym
F. Latour Tomline) and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett
at the Court Theatre, together with Fisher. The same year, in the same house, she appeared in Playing with Fire. In 1874, she joined the company at the Strand Theatre
, where she first played Lady Constance in The Field of the Cloth of Gold. She remained at that theatre for four years in burlesques and comedies, such as Nemesis by H. B. Farnie, Loo and the Party Who Took Miss, Intimidad, Flamingo, Cracked Heads, The Lying Dutchman, Princess Toto
, by Gilbert and Frederic Clay
, Champagne, and as the Plaintiff in Gilbert and Sullivan
's Trial by Jury
in 1877, opposite Fisher's Defendant. Also at the Strand, she played Penelope, the bewildered housemaid, in Sydney Grundy
's comedy The Snowball and appeared in Our Club and The Baby.
She built her popularity through a series of roles in works by F. C. Burnand, including Dora and Diplunacy, a burlesque of Diplomacy (in which she parodied Effie Bancroft
), Family Ties and The Red Rover (a burlesque of Robertson's sentimental plays). In 1879, at the Royalty Theatre
, she played Eliza in a revival of The Zoo
by B. C. Stephenson
and Arthur Sullivan
. The same year, she was particularly successful playing the title role in Burnand's farce Betsy at the Criterion Theatre
. This was followed by comic roles such as Amy Jones in Crutch and Toothpick by G. R. Sims at the Royalty (1879), and by roles in Young Mrs. Winthrop, and On Change. She also played the title role in Jane. In 1880, she was Kitty Clark in The Little Mother at the Gaiety Theatre, London
.
Venne appeared in the 1881 comedy Out of the Hunt at the Comedy Theatre with E. H. Sothern
. The same year, she played Mrs. Pilate Pump in Blue and Buff, Mrs. Delafield in Reclaimed and Gwendolyn Kingfisher in Dust. In 1882, she was Nettie Milsom in The Manager and starred as Mary Ledger, with Marion Terry
and Johnston Forbes-Robertson
, in G. W. Godfrey's comedy The Parvenu at the Court Theatre. Reviewing the play, The Labour Standard wrote, "Venne is the Princess of the play; her style is charming, and her voice is clear and sweet." In 1883, she was Marceline in Lurette Fleurette in Barbe-Bleue and Peg O'Reilly in The Glass of Fashion by Grundy at the Globe Theatre
, with Herbert Beerbohm Tree
. Among many other roles in the mid-1880s, she played Agatha Poskett in Arthur Wing Pinero
's The Magistrate
(1885 at the Court Theatre) and Honour in Robert Buchanan
's Sophia (1886; adapted from Fielding's Tom Jones
at the Vaudeville Theatre
).
In 1887, she was Rose in a version of the Arabian Nights, by Von Moser, with Charles Hawtrey and W. S. Penley
. The next year, she starred as Mrs. Bardell with Rutland Barrington
and Arthur Cecil
at the Comedy Theatre in Pickwick by Burnand and Edward Solomon
. Barrington commented, "This great little artist possesses, in addition to her many charms, a wonderful manner of speaking that kind of doubtful line which is sometimes alluded to by journalists as 'skating on thin ice'; and this power was occasionally abused by authors, much to her distress. She once came to me at rehearsal and pointing out a speech said, 'B. dear, I can’t say that, now, can I?' My obvious reply was, 'Well, Lottie, if you can't, no one can.'" She also appeared and as Polly Eccles in Caste by T. W. Robertson
(1889 at the Criterion Theatre. In 1890, she was Pert in London Assurance
by Dion Boucicault
at the Avenue Theatre, followed by two seasons at the Comedy Theatre, including in Poet and Puppets, a travesty of Oscar Wilde
's Lady Windermere's Fan
, by Charles Brookfield
, with Charles Hawtrey. In 1893, she was in a musical piece by Brookfield and Seymour Hicks
called Under the Clock at the Court Theatre, also starring Brookfield as Sherlock Holmes and Hicks as Dr. Watson. Venne played Hannah, a maid of all-work. That year, she also played Zulu in Forbidden Fruit at the Vaudeville.
With the advent of Edwardian musical comedy
, Venne appeared in George Edwardes
hits as Lady Virginia Forrest in The Gaiety Girl (1893), as Madame Amelia in An Artist's Model
(1895) and as Lady St. Mallory in Three Little Maids
(1902). In 1894, she was in Burnand's A Gay Widow with Hawtrey and Eva Moore
. After An Artist's Model, she toured in the companies of Lewis Waller
and Lillie Langtry
. She returned to London in 1896 and resumed playing a constant schedule of new roles, including Lady Barker in The Mermaids at the Garrick Theatre
. She was Lady Horton in The Royal Star with Willie Edouin (1898). She starred as Mrs. Candour in a 1900 revival of The School for Scandal
at the Haymarket Theatre.
Among her roles after this were Fatima Wilson West in The Love Birds at the Savoy Theatre
and Xenofa in His Highness, My Husband by William Boosey, at the Comedy Theatre, with Eric Lewis
(1904). She starred as Mrs. Parker-Jennings in W. Somerset Maugham
's hit play Jack Straw, in 1908, with Hawtrey at the Vaudeville Theatre
. In 1910, she appeared as Mrs. Cummin in Little Miss Cummin with Marie Lohr
at the Playhouse Theatre
, and the same year, she was Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals
, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
at the Lyric Theatre. The next year, among other roles, she was Mrs. Grundy in Orpheus in the Underground at His Majesty's Theatre
. In 1912, at the Criterion, she was Lady Julia Ventermere in A Young Man's Fancy. She continued to performa a heavy schedule through the end of World War I
and beyond.
Venne was also in the 1917 film Masks and Faces. Later stage appearances included the role of Mrs. Shuttleworth, with Charles Hawtrey and Gladys Cooper
, in Maugham's Home and Beauty in 1919 at the Playhouse Theatre. That year, she was also Mary Knowle in The Romantic Age, a comedy by A. A. Milne
at the Comedy Theatre. Later, she played Lady Catherine in The Circle at the Haymarket Theatre. She also reprised her role in Jack Straw (1923) and appeared in The Claimant (1924). The next year, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, she appeared in Lionel and Clarissa. Her last performance was at the Lyric, Hammersmith on 30 September 1927.
By the end of her career, Venne had appeared in over 200 roles. The theatre community feted Venne in a Jubilee "super-matinee" celebration on 13 November 1925. For the occasion, J. M. Barrie
provided scenes from a new play, Shall We Join the Ladies? starring Dion Boucicault
, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Ronald Squire
, Marie Lohr
, Johnston Forbes-Robertson
, Gladys Cooper
, Gerald du Maurier
and others. Others who took part in the celebration included Sonnie Hale
, Henry Ainley
, Jack Hulbert
, Cicely Courtneidge
, Marie Tempest
, Madge Kendal
(who gave the tribute to her) and George Grossmith, Jr.
She married actor Walter H. Fisher
, with whom she had performed early in her career on tour, in The Happy Land and in Trial by Jury. Their son was the actor Tom Shelford (H. J. Ford), and their daughter the actress Audrey Ford.
Lottie Venne died in a London nursing home in 1928, aged 76 years. Venne's obituary in The Times
commented that her "knowing smile, a smirk that was all her own, made her a personality regarded with real affection during her long [career]".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedienne, actress and singer of the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and Edwardian eras, who enjoyed a theatre career spanning five decades. Venne began her stage career in musical burlesque before moving into farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
and comedy. She appeared in several works by each of F. C. Burnand and W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
and was often in plays with Charles Hawtrey later in her career.
Early life and career
Her first professional appearance came in 1867 as Miss Charbonnel in A Dream in Venice at the Gallery of Illustration in London, followed by two years touring in the provinces. For part of this time, she joined Captain Disney Roebuck's touring company, where she met her future husband, Walter H. FisherWalter H. Fisher
Walter Henry Fisher was an English singer and actor of the Victorian era best known as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the creator of the role of the Defendant in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 opera Trial by Jury...
. In London, in 1870, Venne played Susan Piper in A Bull in a China Shop, a comedy by Charles Mathews
Charles Mathews
Charles Mathews was an English theatre manager and comic actor, well-known during his time for his gift of impersonation and skill at table entertainment...
at 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...
. At the same theatre, she appeared as Jemima in Rural Felicity by John Baldwin Buckstone
John Baldwin Buckstone
John Baldwin Buckstone was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826....
. In the early 1870s, she played many roles in musical burlesques such as Talfourd's Atalanta as Cupid
Cupid
In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
, Little Jack Sheppard
Little Jack Sheppard
Little Jack Sheppard is a burlesque melodrama written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and William Yardley, with music by Meyer Lutz, with songs contributed by Florian Pascal, Corney Grain, Arthur Cecil, Michael Watson, Henry J. Leslie, Alfred Cellier and Hamilton Clarke...
as Jonathan Wild (1871 on tour), Dr. Faust as Franz, Ixion as Cupid (1873), and Don Juan as Zerlina (1873 at the Alhambra Theatre
Alhambra Theatre
The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...
). She played Polly Twinkle in La vie Parisienne
La Vie Parisienne
La Vie Parisienne was a magazine in France founded in 1863 and popular at the turn-of-the-twentieth century. It was originally intended as a guide to upper class and artistic life in Paris , but it soon evolved into a mildly risqué erotic publication...
in 1872 and, at the Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, played in Christabel, Zampa, Lady Audley's Secret and others.
Venne played the role of Zayda in the 1873 play The Happy Land
The Happy Land
The Happy Land is a play with music written in 1873 by W. S. Gilbert and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett. The musical play burlesques Gilbert's earlier play, The Wicked World...
by W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
(under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
F. Latour Tomline) and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett
Gilbert Arthur a Beckett
Gilbert Arthur à Beckett was an English writer.-Biography:Beckett was born at Hammersmith, United Kingdom, the eldest son of Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and the brother of Arthur William à Beckett...
at the Court Theatre, together with Fisher. The same year, in the same house, she appeared in Playing with Fire. In 1874, she joined the company at the Strand Theatre
Royal Strand Theatre
The Royal Strand Theatre was located in Strand in the City of Westminster. The theatre was built on the site of a panorama in 1832, and in 1882 was rebuilt by the prolific theatre architect Charles J. Phipps...
, where she first played Lady Constance in The Field of the Cloth of Gold. She remained at that theatre for four years in burlesques and comedies, such as Nemesis by H. B. Farnie, Loo and the Party Who Took Miss, Intimidad, Flamingo, Cracked Heads, The Lying Dutchman, Princess Toto
Princess Toto
Princess Toto is a three-act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and his long-time collaborator Frederic Clay. It opened on 24 June 1876 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, starring Kate Santley, W. S. Penley and J. H. Ryley. It transferred to the Royal Strand Theatre in London on 2 October 1876 for a run...
, by Gilbert and Frederic Clay
Frederic Clay
Frederic Emes Clay was an English composer known principally for his music written for the stage. Clay, a great friend of Arthur Sullivan's, wrote four comic operas with W. S...
, Champagne, and as the Plaintiff in Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
in 1877, opposite Fisher's Defendant. Also at the Strand, she played Penelope, the bewildered housemaid, in Sydney Grundy
Sydney Grundy
Sydney Grundy was an English dramatist. Most of his works were adaptations of European plays, and many became successful enough to tour throughout the English-speaking world...
's comedy The Snowball and appeared in Our Club and The Baby.
She built her popularity through a series of roles in works by F. C. Burnand, including Dora and Diplunacy, a burlesque of Diplomacy (in which she parodied Effie Bancroft
Effie Bancroft
Marie Effie Wilton, Lady Bancroft was an English actress and theatre manager. She appeared onstage as Marie Wilton until after her marriage in December 1867 to Squire Bancroft, when she usually appeared under the name Lady Bancroft...
), Family Ties and The Red Rover (a burlesque of Robertson's sentimental plays). In 1879, at the Royalty Theatre
Royalty Theatre
The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...
, she played Eliza in a revival of The Zoo
The Zoo
The Zoo is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St. James's Theatre in London , concluding its run five weeks later, on 9 July 1875, at the Haymarket Theatre...
by B. C. Stephenson
B. C. Stephenson
Benjamin Charles Stephenson or B. C. Stephenson was an English dramatist, lyricist and librettist. After beginning a career in the civil service, he started to write for the theatre, using the pen name "Bolton Rowe". He was author or co-author of several long-running shows of the Victorian theatre...
and Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
. The same year, she was particularly successful playing the title role in Burnand's farce Betsy at the Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has an official capacity of 588.-Building the theatre:...
. This was followed by comic roles such as Amy Jones in Crutch and Toothpick by G. R. Sims at the Royalty (1879), and by roles in Young Mrs. Winthrop, and On Change. She also played the title role in Jane. In 1880, she was Kitty Clark in The Little Mother at the Gaiety Theatre, London
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
.
Venne appeared in the 1881 comedy Out of the Hunt at the Comedy Theatre with E. H. Sothern
E. H. Sothern
Edward Hugh Sothern was an American actor who specialized in dashing, romantic leading roles and particularly in Shakespeare roles.-Biography:...
. The same year, she played Mrs. Pilate Pump in Blue and Buff, Mrs. Delafield in Reclaimed and Gwendolyn Kingfisher in Dust. In 1882, she was Nettie Milsom in The Manager and starred as Mary Ledger, with Marion Terry
Marion Terry
Marion Bessie Terry was an English actress. In a career spanning half a century, she played leading roles in more than 125 plays. Always in the shadow of her more famous sister Ellen, Terry nevertheless achieved considerable success in the plays of W. S...
and Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the nineteenth century and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.-Early life:Born in...
, in G. W. Godfrey's comedy The Parvenu at the Court Theatre. Reviewing the play, The Labour Standard wrote, "Venne is the Princess of the play; her style is charming, and her voice is clear and sweet." In 1883, she was Marceline in Lurette Fleurette in Barbe-Bleue and Peg O'Reilly in The Glass of Fashion by Grundy at the Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street)
The Globe was a Victorian theatre built in 1868 and demolished in 1902. It was the third of five London theatres to bear the name. It was also known at various times as the Royal Globe Theatre or Globe Theatre Royal. Its repertoire consisted mainly of comedies and musical shows...
, with Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
. Among many other roles in the mid-1880s, she played Agatha Poskett in Arthur Wing Pinero
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
's The Magistrate
The Magistrate (play)
The Magistrate is a farce by the English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero. The plot concerns a respectable magistrate who finds himself caught up in a series of scandalous events that almost cause his disgrace....
(1885 at the Court Theatre) and Honour in Robert Buchanan
Robert Buchanan
Robert Buchanan is the name of:* Bob Buchanan , American baseball player* Robert Williams Buchanan , Scottish writer* Robert Buchanan , Scottish footballer...
's Sophia (1886; adapted from Fielding's Tom Jones
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. First published on 28 February 1749, Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel...
at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
).
In 1887, she was Rose in a version of the Arabian Nights, by Von Moser, with Charles Hawtrey and W. S. Penley
W. S. Penley
William Sydney Penley was an English actor, singer and comedian best remembered as producer and star of the phenomenally successful 1892 Brandon Thomas farce, Charley's Aunt and as the Reverend Robert Spalding in many productions of The Private Secretary.-Life and career:Penley was born at...
. The next year, she starred as Mrs. Bardell with Rutland Barrington
Rutland Barrington
Rutland Barrington was an English singer, actor, comedian, and Edwardian musical comedy star. Best remembered for originating the lyric baritone roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas from 1877 to 1896, his performing career spanned more than four decades...
and Arthur Cecil
Arthur Cecil
Arthur Cecil Blunt, better known as Arthur Cecil was an English actor, comedian, playwright and theatre manager. He is probably best remembered for playing the role of Box in the long-running production of Cox and Box, by Arthur Sullivan and F. C...
at the Comedy Theatre in Pickwick by Burnand and Edward Solomon
Edward Solomon
Edward Solomon was a prolific English composer, as well as a conductor, orchestrator and pianist. Though he died before his fortieth birthday, he wrote dozens of works produced for the stage, including several for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, such as The Nautch Girl, among others.-Early...
. Barrington commented, "This great little artist possesses, in addition to her many charms, a wonderful manner of speaking that kind of doubtful line which is sometimes alluded to by journalists as 'skating on thin ice'; and this power was occasionally abused by authors, much to her distress. She once came to me at rehearsal and pointing out a speech said, 'B. dear, I can’t say that, now, can I?' My obvious reply was, 'Well, Lottie, if you can't, no one can.'" She also appeared and as Polly Eccles in Caste by T. W. Robertson
Thomas William Robertson
Thomas William Robertson , usually known professionally as T. W. Robertson, was an Anglo-Irish dramatist and innovative stage director best known for a series of realistic or naturalistic plays produced in London in the 1860s that broke new ground and inspired playwrights such as W.S...
(1889 at the Criterion Theatre. In 1890, she was Pert in London Assurance
London Assurance
London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
by Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
at the Avenue Theatre, followed by two seasons at the Comedy Theatre, including in Poet and Puppets, a travesty of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...
, by Charles Brookfield
Charles Brookfield
Charles Hallam Elton Brookfield was a British actor, author, playwright and journalist, including for The Saturday Review. His most famous work for the theatre was The Belle of Mayfair ....
, with Charles Hawtrey. In 1893, she was in a musical piece by Brookfield and Seymour Hicks
Seymour Hicks
Sir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
called Under the Clock at the Court Theatre, also starring Brookfield as Sherlock Holmes and Hicks as Dr. Watson. Venne played Hannah, a maid of all-work. That year, she also played Zulu in Forbidden Fruit at the Vaudeville.
Later years
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
, Venne appeared in George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
hits as Lady Virginia Forrest in The Gaiety Girl (1893), as Madame Amelia in An Artist's Model
An Artist's Model
An Artist's Model is a two-act musical by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and music by Sidney Jones, with additional songs by Joseph and Mary Watson, Paul Lincke, Frederick Ross, Henry Hamilton and Leopold Wenzel. It opened at Daly's Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes and...
(1895) and as Lady St. Mallory in Three Little Maids
Three Little Maids
Three Little Maids is an English musical by Paul Rubens with additional songs by Percy Greenbank and Howard Talbot. The story concerns three simple curate's daughters who go to London to earn their livings serving tea in a Bond Street tea shop...
(1902). In 1894, she was in Burnand's A Gay Widow with Hawtrey and Eva Moore
Eva Moore
Eva Moore was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement.-Early life and career:...
. After An Artist's Model, she toured in the companies of Lewis Waller
Lewis Waller
William Lewis Waller was an English actor and theatre manager. His father was a civil engineer.Born in Spain, he first appeared on the London stage in 1883, at Tooles, and for some years added to his reputation as a capable actor...
and Lillie Langtry
Lillie Langtry
Lillie Langtry , usually spelled Lily Langtry when she was in the U.S., born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a British actress born on the island of Jersey...
. She returned to London in 1896 and resumed playing a constant schedule of new roles, including Lady Barker in The Mermaids at the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...
. She was Lady Horton in The Royal Star with Willie Edouin (1898). She starred as Mrs. Candour in a 1900 revival of The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
at the Haymarket Theatre.
Among her roles after this were Fatima Wilson West in The Love Birds at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
and Xenofa in His Highness, My Husband by William Boosey, at the Comedy Theatre, with Eric Lewis
Eric Lewis (actor)
Frederic Lewis Tuffley , better known by his stage name, Eric Lewis, was an English comedian, actor and singer...
(1904). She starred as Mrs. Parker-Jennings in W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
's hit play Jack Straw, in 1908, with Hawtrey at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
. In 1910, she appeared as Mrs. Cummin in Little Miss Cummin with Marie Lohr
Marie Lohr
Marie Lohr was an Australian film and stage actress.-Biography:Marie Löhr was born in Sydney to Lewis J. Löhr, treasurer of the Melbourne opera house, and his wife, the English actress Kate Bishop...
at the Playhouse Theatre
Playhouse Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery...
, and the same year, she was Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals
The Rivals
The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
at the Lyric Theatre. The next year, among other roles, she was Mrs. Grundy in Orpheus in the Underground at His Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
. In 1912, at the Criterion, she was Lady Julia Ventermere in A Young Man's Fancy. She continued to performa a heavy schedule through the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and beyond.
Venne was also in the 1917 film Masks and Faces. Later stage appearances included the role of Mrs. Shuttleworth, with Charles Hawtrey and Gladys Cooper
Gladys Cooper
Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, DBE was an English actress whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television....
, in Maugham's Home and Beauty in 1919 at the Playhouse Theatre. That year, she was also Mary Knowle in The Romantic Age, a comedy by A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...
at the Comedy Theatre. Later, she played Lady Catherine in The Circle at the Haymarket Theatre. She also reprised her role in Jack Straw (1923) and appeared in The Claimant (1924). The next year, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, she appeared in Lionel and Clarissa. Her last performance was at the Lyric, Hammersmith on 30 September 1927.
By the end of her career, Venne had appeared in over 200 roles. The theatre community feted Venne in a Jubilee "super-matinee" celebration on 13 November 1925. For the occasion, J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
provided scenes from a new play, Shall We Join the Ladies? starring Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Ronald Squire
Ronald Squire
Ronald Squire was an English character actor.Born in Tiverton, Devon, England, he spent his early acting career in Liverpool repertory theatre in light comedy roles, before moving on to films...
, Marie Lohr
Marie Lohr
Marie Lohr was an Australian film and stage actress.-Biography:Marie Löhr was born in Sydney to Lewis J. Löhr, treasurer of the Melbourne opera house, and his wife, the English actress Kate Bishop...
, Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the nineteenth century and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.-Early life:Born in...
, Gladys Cooper
Gladys Cooper
Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, DBE was an English actress whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television....
, Gerald du Maurier
Gerald du Maurier
Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier was an English actor and manager. He was the son of the writer George du Maurier and brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. In 1902, he married the actress Muriel Beaumont with whom he had three daughters: Angela du Maurier , Daphne du Maurier and Jeanne...
and others. Others who took part in the celebration included Sonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale
Sonnie Hale was an English theatre and cinema actor and director.John Robert Hale-Monro was born in London, the son of Robert Hale and Belle Reynolds. His father and sister, Binnie Hale were actors. He worked chiefly in musical and revue theatre, but also acted in several films with occasional...
, Henry Ainley
Henry Ainley
Henry Hinchliffe Ainley was an English Shakespearean stage and screen actor. He was married three times to Susanne Sheldon, Elaine Fearon and the novelist Bettina Riddle, later Baroness von Hutten zum Stolzenberg...
, Jack Hulbert
Jack Hulbert
John Norman "Jack" Hulbert was a British actor, specialising primarily in comedy productions.-Biography:Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, he was the elder and more successful brother of Claude. He was educated at Cambridge and appeared in many shows and revues, mainly with the Cambridge Footlights. He...
, Cicely Courtneidge
Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge DBE was an English actress and comedienne. The daughter of the producer Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End, by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies.After the...
, Marie Tempest
Marie Tempest
Dame Marie Tempest DBE was an English singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".Tempest became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere...
, Madge Kendal
Madge Kendal
Dame Madge Kendal GBE , born as Margaret Shafto Robertson, was an English actress of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for her roles in Shakespeare and English comedies. Together with her husband, W. H...
(who gave the tribute to her) and George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr. was a British actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies...
She married actor Walter H. Fisher
Walter H. Fisher
Walter Henry Fisher was an English singer and actor of the Victorian era best known as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the creator of the role of the Defendant in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 opera Trial by Jury...
, with whom she had performed early in her career on tour, in The Happy Land and in Trial by Jury. Their son was the actor Tom Shelford (H. J. Ford), and their daughter the actress Audrey Ford.
Lottie Venne died in a London nursing home in 1928, aged 76 years. Venne's obituary in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
commented that her "knowing smile, a smirk that was all her own, made her a personality regarded with real affection during her long [career]".