Records Of A Girlhood Volume 1 (1 Of 2), Frances Ann Kemble [i can read book club .txt] 📗

cHad Been Dedicated To Him By Her Love, And Where Close Beside It And

Below It Lay The Marble Slab On Which Her Name Was Inscribed.

Our Performance At Bridgewater House Was Highly Successful And Created A

Great Sensation, And We Repeated It Three Times For The Edification Of

The Great Gay World Of London, Sundry Royal Personages Included. Two Of

Our Company, Mr. Craven And Mr. St. Aubin, Were Really Good Actors; The

Rest Were Of A Tolerably Decent Inoffensiveness. Mrs. Bradshaw, The

Charming Maria Tree Of Earlier Days, Accepted The Few Lines That Had To

Be Spoken By Donna Sol's Duenna, And Delivered The Epilogue, Which,

Besides Being Very Graceful And Playful, Contains Some Lines For Which I

Felt Grateful To Lord Ellesmere's Kindness, Though He Had Certainly

Taken A Poet's Full License Of Embellishing His Subject In His Laudatory

Reference To His Donna Sol.

The Whole Thing Amused Me Very Much, And Mixed Up, As It Soon Came To Be

For Me, With An Element Of Real And Serious Interest, Kept Up The

Atmosphere Of Nervous Excitement In Which I Was Plunged From Morning

Till Night.

The Play Which Sheridan Knowles Came To Read To Us Was "The Hunchback."

He Had Already Produced Several Successful Dramas, Of Which The Most

Striking Was Virginius, In Which Mr. Macready Performed The Roman Father

So Finely. The Play Knowles Now Read To Us Had Been Originally Taken By

Him To Drury Lane In The Hope And Expectation That Kean Would Accept The

Principal Man's Part Of Master Walter. Various Difficulties And

Disagreements Arising, However, About The Piece, The Author Brought It

To My Father; And Great Was My Emotion And Delight In Hearing Him Read

It. From The First Moment I Felt Sure That It Would Succeed Greatly, And

That I Should Be Able To Do Justice To The Part Of The Heroine, And I

Was Anxious With My Father For Its Production. The Verdict Of The Green

Room Was Not, However, Nearly As Favorable As I Had Expected; And I Was

Surprised To Find That When The Piece Was Read To The Assembled Company

It Was Received With Considerable Misgiving As To Its Chance Of Success.

Publication Date: 05-15-2014

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