Nellie Farren
Ellen "Nellie" Farren (16 April 1848 – 29 April 1904) was an English actress and singer best known for her roles as the "principal boy" in musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre in London.
Born into a theatrical family, Farren began acting as a child. She made her professional adult debut in 1864 and joined the company at London's Olympic Theatre, performing in Shakespeare, contemporary comedies, dramas and musical burlesques. From 1868 to 1892, she performed at the Gaiety Theatre, which specialised in musical burlesque, becoming famous in the male and principal boy roles, which permitted an actress in the Victorian era theatre to show her legs in tights. Farren gained a large following among the theatre's mostly male audience.
Farren created the role of Mercury in
After Farren suffered an attack of rheumatic fever in 1891, her health forced to retire from the stage in 1892. A gala benefit for her was arranged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1898. It was attended by nearly the entire theatrical community at which the most famous actors of the day performed, and which raised the astonishing sum of £7,000 (equivalent to £830,000 in 2021) for her retirement.
Early life and career
Farren was born in Lancashire to a theatrical family. Her grandfather, William Farren, was a well-known actor. Her father, Henry Farren, and her uncle, William, were both actors.[1] Her mother was Ellen nee Smithson.[2] Farren married actor and stage manager Robert Soutar in 1867,[2][3] and the couple had two sons, Henry Robert Soutar (1868–1928), an actor who ended his days as a general labourer,[4] and the actor Joseph Farren Soutar (1870–1962).[5][6]
Her first role was as the young
Later in 1864, Farren moved to the
Gaiety Theatre years
Farren began her long tenure at the
Farren continued at the Gaiety for the next 25 years, playing in comedies of all kinds and in Shakespearean dramas, first under Hollingshead and then under
Some of her best known roles in the 1870s included Tilly Slowboy in Dot (Dion Boucicault's version of The Cricket on the Hearth); Miss Prue in Love for Love; Princess of Trebizonde (1870), based on the Jacques Offenbach operetta; Sam Weller in Bardell v. Pickwick; Mercury in Gilbert and Sullivan's first operatic collaboration, Thespis, or, the Gods Grown Old (1871); Ali Baba; Polly Neefit in Shilly-Shally (1872), by Anthony Trollope and Charles Reade; Leporello in Robert Reece's Don Giovanni; Antony and Cleopatra (1873); Clemency Newcome in The Battle of Life, (based on Charles Dickens's Christmas story of that title); the title role in Henry James Byron's Little Don Caesar de Bazan (1876, a send-up of Boucicault's play); Thaddeus in Byron's The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole (1877); and title roles in Byron's farce Little Doctor Faust (1878)[8] his Handsome Hernani, or The Fatal Penny-Whistle (1879);[15] and Robbing Roy (1879).[1][2]
Farren's Gaiety pieces in the 1880s included Lutz and Robert Reece's burlesques of The Forty Thieves (1880), as Ganem; the title roles in Aladdin (1881) and Little Robin Hood (1882);[8] Ariel (1883, by F. C. Burnand, based on The Tempest);[16][17] Blue Beard (1882); Camaralzaman and Mazeppa (1884); perhaps her most famous role as Little Jack Sheppard (1885); Monte Cristo Jr., as Edmond Dantes (1886); Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim (1887); Miss Esmeralda, or The Maid and the Monkey (1887); Fra Diavolo, Gulliver, Rip Van Winkle, Sonnambula; the title role in Cinder Ellen up too Late (1891); and dozens of others.[18] Perhaps the most successful of her later roles was the title role in Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1889, by Fred Leslie and H. F. Clarke, a take-off of Victor Hugo's play Ruy Blas),[8] which she and Fred Leslie toured in Australia (with Sidney Jones) and elsewhere in 1891. In 1888–89, she, Leslie, Letty Lind, Sylvia Grey, Marion Hood and the Gaiety company had toured the US and Australia with Monte Christo, Jr. and Miss Esmeralda.[19]
In addition to these burlesques, Farren also appeared in other comedies such as The Man of Quality (an adaptation of Vanbrugh's Relapse), as Miss Hoyden (1870); William Congreve's Love for Love, as Miss Prue (1871); Bickerstaff's The Hypocrite, as Charlotte (1873); The Rivals (1874) as Lillian Languish (1874) and as Lucy (1877); The Critic, as Tilburina (1874); Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing (1874); Maria in Twelfth Night (1876); The Grasshopper (1877, an adaptation of Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy's La Cigale); and a number of farces.[2] James McNeill Whistler saw The Grasshopper and was charmed by Farren as the 'grasshopper', a girl who escapes from a circus troupe. In January 1878, Whistler made drawings of her in performance.[20] Another success was her Smike in Nicholas Nickleby (1886).[2] On 3 May 1886, the Gaiety Theatre was host to a benefit concert for its music director, composer Meyer Lutz, including a scene from his burlesque Little Jack Sheppard, in which Farren performed.[21] The same year, Farren helped George Edwards obtain the lease to the Gaiety and became co-producer of the Gaiety company's shows.[1] She toured in the US and Australia with Fred Leslie in 1888–89.[2]
Last years
Her last regular role at the Gaiety was Nan in Good for Nothing in a benefit for Lutz in April 1891.
George Edwardes organised a gala benefit for Farren at the
Farren's retirement, coupled with Fred Leslie's death, brought to an end the type of Gaiety burlesque associated with them, at the same time that Edwardian musical comedy was taking over London theatre. Farren made a few appearances in her last years at benefits. Her last public appearance was at a "Nellie Farren Night" at the Gaiety Theatre on 8 April 1903. A performance of The Toreador was followed by The Linkman, a revue of old Gaiety hits in which she performed, written by, and featuring, George Grossmith Jr. At the end of the evening, Farren gave a speech from the stage.[2]
Death and legacy
Farren died in London in 1904, aged 56, of cardiac failure and was buried in Brompton Cemetery.[2][29] In 1908 a racehorse was named after her.[30]
Her son Joseph was buried alongside her when he died in 1962.[citation needed] Their gravesite was restored in 2014.[31]
Gallery
-
Photo and signatures of Farren, Terry, Vaughan and Royce at the Gaiety
-
Farren as Ruy Blas
-
Sheet music from Monte Cristo Jr.
-
Farren's grave in Brompton Cemetery
References
- ^ a b c d Hollingshead, John. Gaiety Chronicles (1898) A. Constable & Co., London
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Parker, John (1912). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 12–14. . In
- ^ "Article about the Gaiety tour of Australia". Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
- ^ "Death Certificate for Henry Robert Soutar (1928)", Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2013
- Internet Movie Database, accessed 8 October 2013
- ^ "Miss Nellie Farren", The Straits Times, 28 May 1904, p. 2, accessed 8 October 2013
- ^ a b Reid, Erskine and Herbert Compton. The Dramatic Peerage (1892) Raithby, Lawrence & Co. Ltd., London, pp. 80–81
- ^ a b c d e Information from Footlight Notes website Archived 12 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hollingshead, p. 448
- ^ Digital Guide to Gilbert & Sullivan Archived 31 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Stewart, Maurice. "The spark that lit the bonfire", in Gilbert and Sullivan News (London) Spring 2003.
- ^ "Information about the Columbus burlesque". Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
- ^ "Hamilton, Frederick Spencer, The Days Before Yesterday (2005)". Archived from the original on 29 November 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
- ^ Hollingshead, John. Good Old Gaiety (1903) London, p. 14
- ^ Information and images regarding Handsome Hernani, or The Fatal Penny-Whistle
- ^ NY Times article that includes a brief review of Ariel
- ^ Information about Ariel, 1883
- ^ Plarr, Victor G. Men and Women of the Time (1898) G. Routledge, London
- ^ NY Times article that describes the U.S. performances
- ^ "Information about Farren, Whistler and Hollingshead". Archived from the original on 7 July 2004. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
- ^ Information about several Farren performances
- ^ Some information about Farren Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Culme, John. Footlight Notes Archived 5 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 14 June 2003, accessed 1 January 2010
- ^ The Times, 18 November 1895, p. 3
- ^ a b c Account of the benefit by an audience member
- ^ Cellier, François and Cunningham Bridgeman. "Gilbert and Sullivan and their operas", Little, Brown (1914), pp. 28–29
- ^ "Letty Lind as Columbine, Drury Lane Theatre, 17 March 1898", Victoria and Albert Museum, accessed 28 August 2016
- ^ "Notabilities to Take Part in the Nellie Farren Benefit – Sale of Seats Nets $25,000". The New York Times. 27 February 1898. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
- ^ "First And Last Appearances", The Daily News, 29 April 1904, p. 7
- ^ Nellie Farren, Standardbred racehorse
- ^ Nellie Farren and Farren Soutar grave restored[permanent dead link], Latest News, The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America, 2 October 2014
Bibliography
- Hilton, George W. Nellie Farren (1997) Sir Arthur Sullivan Society
- Hollingshead, John. Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance (1903) London: Gaity Theatre Co.