Elizabeth Boutell

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Elizabeth Boutell , nee Davenport (* 1650s; † 1715 ) was an English actress.

Life

She was born in the early 1650s to Christopher Davenport and Frances Ridley. Elizabeth married Barnaby Boutell from a good family after 1669.

As a teenager she joined the London theater company King's Company with her sister Frances . You were two of the first women in England allowed to appear on a stage. Elizabeth's first documented appearance dates from 1663 or 1664 in the newly built Theater Royal when she appeared as Estifania in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife . She took on many significant roles, including Benzayda in John Dryden's The Conquest of Granada (December 1670 and January 1671) and possibly Rosalinda in Nathaniel Lee's Sophonisbe (April 3, 1675).

Among other characters, she "created" Melantha in Dryden's Marriage à la mode (April 1672), Cleopatra in Dryden's All for Love and Mrs. Termagant in Thomas Shadwell's Squire of Alsatia . However, she had her best-known role as the loving and loyal Queen Stateira in Nathaniel Lee's hit The Rival Queens (premiered March 17, 1677).

Boutell formed a "remarkable acting combination" with her colleague Rebecca Marshall . For the first time this constituted itself in August 1670, as one of the first roles of Boutell on Dury Lane, in the drama "The Roman Empress", the only play by William Joyners (1622-1706). The success and desire for more such "Women in Conflict" pieces led to similar works in which Boutell played the virtuous heroine against Marshall's darker antagonist. This constellation was shown in The Conquest of Granada and The Tragedy of Nero by Lee in 1674; as in 1677 in John Crownes The Destruction of Jerusalem and Lee's The Rival Queens .

This successful scheme did not have to wait long for imitators. In the same decade, the competing theater company Duke's Company competed with its own couple: Mary Saunderson ( Thomas Betterton's wife ) and Mary Lee (later Mary Slingsby ). In the 1680s and 1690s it was the duo Elizabeth Barry and Anne Bracegirdle . Boutell often shone in trouser roles , such as Fidelia in William Wycherley's The Plain Dealer (December 11, 1676), Margery Pinchwife in William Wycherley's The Innocence of the Country (January 12, 1675) or as Constancia in the (unsuccessful) comedy The She Gallants (by George Granville, 1695).

Edmund Curll (1675-1747) described Boutell in his work The History of the English Stage of 1741 as a very important actress who was short in stature, had very pleasant features and a good complexion, but a childish appearance. Her voice was weak but very gentle; She generally embodied the young, innocent lady who all heroes are in love with and who was a favorite in the city.

Between March 1678 and April 1688 no appearances are known of her. Her husband was made a lieutenant from 1681 and the Biographical Dictionary of Actors speculates that she may have followed him to the continent in that decade. However, an active travel activity within Europe has been handed down, often together with her friend, the actress Elizabeth Price , which she also considered in her will. She had her last role in 1696 with Thomas Bettertons Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theater , where she played T (h) omyris in Cyrus the Great (by John Banks, see also Cyrus II ).

In 1697 she went to the Netherlands with her husband and probably spent pleasant years there. Her husband died in 1711; she in 1715. The previous year she made her will in which she left a fortune of 800 pounds.

reception

During her active career in the 1670s, according to the Biographical Dictionary of Actors, she was generally considered to be "a very talented, popular, beautiful and promiscuous young woman". She was said to be promiscuous in many diatribes and satires - long after her death. The word “whore” (“whore” was not used in the narrower sense of prostitution at that time, rather comparable to today's “ slut ”) was not shied away from, although the majority only served a common prejudice, among the women of the theater always suffered. Male sexual projections onto the coveted stars of the stage may also have played a role.

Davies describes in his "Dramatic Miscellanies" (Vol. II. P. 404) "Mrs. Boutel "as" celebrated for the gentler roles in a tragedy like that of Aspatia in 'Maid's Tragedy' ".

additions

  • An anecdote says that after Barry received a veil from the prop master for the role of Roxana , a dispute broke out between her and Boutell, as Boutell claimed the rights of the elders for this elegant costume piece. During the following presentation of the (now literally) rival queens , Barry then performed with the role text “Die, Sorceress, die! And all my wrongs die with thee! ", A strong blow with the theater dagger against the side of Boutell's body, so that the - actually blunt - theater prop penetrated her corset and inflicted a wound over half a centimeter in length (" quarter of an inch"). According to contemporary rumors, Boutell was jealous of Barry's relationship with the Earl of Rochester .
  • In a bigamy lawsuit against Charles Knollys, 4th Earl of Banbury , she testified in 1695 in favor of her friend Elizabeth Price. Because of her "flexible morals" and the assumption that she had relationships with various men, Price lost the trial and the marriage was not recognized.
  • In Colley Cibber's famous memoir "Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber" (1740), in which he mentioned almost all of his fellow actors, the name Boutell does not appear.

literature

  • Philip Jr, Burnim Highfill, A. Kalman, Edward Langhans: Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800 . 16 volumes. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale (1973–1993)
  • Elizabeth Howe (1992): The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660-1700 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992.
  • Judith Milhous: Elizabeth Bowtell and Elizabeth Davenport: some puzzles solved "in 'Theater Notebook', 39 , The Society for Theater Research, pages 124-134, London 1985

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elizabeth Howe: The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660-1700 , Cambridge University Press 1992, pp. 152-153.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Kirsten Pullen: Actresses and Whores: On Stage and in Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambrige 2005, ISBN 978-0-52-154102-2 in the Google book search
  3. ↑ Thomas Betterton; William Oldys; Edmund Curll: The History of the English Stage , 1741, p. 21 online
  4. ↑ Judith Milhous: Elizabeth Bowtell and Elizabeth Davenport: some puzzles solved "in 'Theater Notebook', 39 , The Society for Theater Research, pages 127-128, London 1985
personal data
SURNAME Boutell, Elizabeth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English actress
DATE OF BIRTH between 1650 and 1655
DATE OF DEATH 1715