Helena Faucit ( 1817 - 1898 ) ~ Incidents and Events in his Life
Helena Faucit as Juliet in Richmond
Her first appearance was made at Richmond as Juliet,
in the summer of 1833, while she was yet scarcely the
age of Shakespeare's Juliet.
It was brought about thus.
One hot afternoon the sisters went in at the stage door
of the theatre, seeking shelter from the sun; and,
finding the place untenanted, held a sort of half ludicrous
rehearsal of the Balcony Scene; Helen speaking
Juliet's lines. The manager, Mr. Willis Jones, was,
unknown to the performers, a witness of their frolic,
and he was so struck by the Juliet's fine voice, excellent
appearance, and admirable recitation, that he
prevailed upon her friends to allow her to appear on
his stage, announced only as A Young Lady.
She
accordingly played several times, with great success.
From Actors and Actresses tom the days of David Garrick to the present time edited by Brander Matthews and Laurence Hutton, Cassell and Company, New York 1886.
She had not had the advantage — or
disadvantage — of having seen previous interpreters of
Shakespeare's heroines, and she was wholly ignorant of
the traditions of the stage. All her conceptions were her
own; and in her own way she struggled to express
what her keen insight showed her of the soul of the
character. Thus there was a freshness in her acting
which was as rare as it was charming.
Mr. Percival
Farren, elder brother of the celebrated William Farren,
was her first master; and of him and his kindly
care she writes with warm affection and appreciation.
In her first season she had the incalculable benefit
of the advice and help of Charles Kemble; and she
gratefully acknowledges how fortunate it was that, to
one of her shy and sensitive nature, so sympathetic
an instructor was given.
From Actors and Actresses tom the days of David Garrick to the present time edited by Brander Matthews and Laurence Hutton, Cassell and Company, New York 1886
She has the art of giving to simple words and sentences
a world of meaning —of appealing directly to
the heart — of opening the deepest depths of feeling.
. . . .
There are many other examples easily referrable,
of a feeling infused — a depth of passion — of
almost unutterable human love, constituting the
power she possesses of rousing those sympathies
which men need not be ashamed of, though their
eyes dim with tears.
From this time she acted much in the provinces.
Her friends considered that there she would receive
the best practice; so she declined numerous engagements
offered her in London, and began, at Edinburgh,
a series of triumphantly successful engagements —
so successful that she chronicles, with just
pride, that after her first night in Edinburgh, she
never played, there or elsewhere, to an indifferent
house.
That she never, after this time, was permanently
established in London, is a painful proof of the
degradation of public taste; but she appeared as a
star at frequent intervals, finding no diminution of
her personal success, and showing ever-increasing
ripeness of judgment and powers.
From Actors and Actresses tom the days of David Garrick to the present time edited by Brander Matthews and Laurence Hutton, Cassell and Company, New York 1886