Nellie Farren

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Nellie Farren (1848 – April 29, 1904) was an English actress and singer best known for her roles as the "principal boy" in burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre.

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Gaiety Theatre Years 1.3 Last years 2 References 3 External links 4 Bibliography

[edit] Life and career

Ellen “Nellie” 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] Farren was married to actor Robert Soutar,^[2] and their son, J. Robert Soutar, also had a career as an actor, singer and stage manager.^[3]

[edit] Early career

She first appeared on the London stage at the age of seven, at the Victoria Theatre, playing Genie of the Ring in Dick Whittington. But her juvenile roles were limited, and she completed her education.^[4]

Farren's adult professional debut was at the Victoria Theatre as Ninetta in The Woman in Red in 1864. Later that year, she moved to the Olympic Theatre, where she stayed for two years, playing in a number of pieces, including The Hidden Hand by Tom Taylor; My Wife's Bonnet by John Maddison Morton, the burlesques Prince Camaralzaman, or, the Fairies' Revenge and Faust and Marguerite; and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, as the Clown.^[5] She also played the title role in Lydia Languish, Nan in Good for Nothing, Jo, and later Smike, in Nicholas Nickleby, and Sam Willoughby in The Ticket-of-leave Man.^[4] The manager of the Olympic, Horace Wigan, and playwright Tom Taylor, each of whom directed shows at the theatre, taught Farren much about stagecraft and encouraged her to experiment and expand her acting.^[6]

[edit] Gaiety Theatre Years

Farren began her long tenure at the Gaiety Theatre, managed by John Hollingshead, in December of 1868 in On the Cards and in the title role of Robert the Devil by W. S. Gilbert, a burlesque of the opera Robert le Diable, which opened the theatre and ran until May 1869.^[7] Her husband, Robert Soutar, was an actor, stage manager and writer for the theatre.^[8] Farren next played the title role in Alfred Thompson's Columbus, or The Original Pitch in a Merry Key (1869).^[9] Farren continued as Principal Boy at the Gaiety for the next 25 years, first under Hollingshead and then under George Edwardes, performing the lead in dozens of shows, many also starring Edward Terry, Kate Vaughan and Fred Leslie. "Principal Boy" roles permitted the actress to show her legs in tights, and Farren became very popular with the young men of the Gaiety audience, who would wear a coloured scarf to show support for their favourite actress. Farren's colours were dark blue, light blue and white, and she could look out over the audience to compare the number of fans displaying her colours as compared to the colours of the other actresses.^[10] According to Hollingshead, Farren developed a "spinal complaint, which troubled her in her early Gaiety career [and] developed into locomotor ataxy" later.^[11]

Other roles in the 1870s included Miss Hoyden in The Man of Quality, 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; Mercury in Gilbert and Sullivan's first operatic collaboration, Thespis, or, the Gods Grown Old (1871); Ali Baba (1872); Polly Neefit in Shilly-Shally (1872), by Anthony Trollope and Charles Reade; Antony and Cleopatra (1873); Clemency Newcome in The Battle of Life, (based on Charles Dickens's Christmas story of that title); The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole (1877); and title roles in Henry James Byron's farce Little Doctor Faust (1878)^[5] Byron's Handsome Hernani, or The Fatal Penny-Whistle (1879);^[12] and Robbing Roy (1879).

Farren's Gaiety pieces in the 1880s included Lutz and Robert Reece's burlesques of The Forty Thieves (1880), Aladdin (1881) and Little Robin Hood (1882),^[5] Ariel (1883, by F. C. Burnand, based on The Tempest),^[13][14] Don Yuan, Blue Beard (1882), Byron's Little Don Caesar de Bazan (a send-up of Boucicault's play), Camaralzaman (1884), Mazeppa (1884), Little Jack Sheppard (1885), Monte Cristo Jr.(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, Cinder Ellen up too Late (1891), A Model Trilby, or A Day or Two after du Maurier (1895), and dozens of others.^[15] 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),^[5] 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 U.S. and Australia with Monte Christo, Jr. and Miss Esmeralda.^[16]

In addition to these burlesques, Farren also appeared in other comedies such as in The Hypocrite, Congreve's Love for Love, Vanbrugh's Relapse, The Grasshopper (1877, an adaptation of Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy's La Cigale), and a number of farces. 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.^[17] 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.^[18] The same year, Farren helped George Edwards obtain the lease to the Gaiety and became co-producer of the Gaiety company's shows.

[edit] Last years

Returning from Australia in 1889, Farren experienced an attack of rheumatic fever and developed a spinal disease. This progressively crippled her, and Farren was mostly retired from the stage by 1892, by which time she had become too crippled to work.^[19]

George Edwardes and organized a benefit for her at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 17 March 1898. The star-studded event, attended by a standing-room only crowd of 3,000 people (including her long-time fan, the Prince of Wales), lasted six hours.^[20] It included a performance of Trial by Jury in which W. S. Gilbert played the Associate, the barristers were all playwrights, the jury were principal comedians, the chorus girls were real chorus girls from the Gaiety mixed in with leading ladies. Principals included Barrington, Pounds, Lytton, Passmore, and Perry. Also given was the premiere of a J. M. Barrie playlet, "A Platonic Friendship." Kate Vaughan danced, after an absence from the stage of twelve years. Henry Irving recited The Dream of Eugene Aram, Ellen Terry played Ophelia, Chevalier sang Mrs. Hawkins, Dan Leno gave Hamlet, Marie Tempest sang "The Jewel of Asia", and Hayden Coffin sang "Tommy Atkins."^[20] In a pantomime, Ellaline Terriss played the Fairy Queen, Letty Lind played Columbine, Arthur Roberts was a policeman, and Edmund Payne was the clown. Marie Lloyd and several music hall stars danced, Coffin appeared again, and Farren herself was discovered on stage with Charles Wyndham. Marie Bancroft, Lydia Thompson, Kate Santley, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, John Hare, Clara Butt, and many other famous actors performed, as did the choruses of The Geisha, The Circus Girl and other popular shows.^[21][22][20] Barely able to walk with the aid of crutches, Farren said a few words and made a joke. The benefit raised an estimated ₤7,000 for her retirement.

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's 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 had performed, written by, and featuring, George Grossmith Jr. At the end of the evening, Farren gave a speech from the stage.

Farren died in London a year later, aged 56. In 1908, a racehorse was named after her.^[23]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Images of Farren
• Farren's obituary in the New York Times
• New York Times article about the anticipated 1898 benefit
• Photo of Nellie Farren and Fred Leslie in Little Jack Sheppard
• Another photo of Leslie and Farren in Little Jack Sheppard

[edit] Bibliography

• Hilton, George W. Nellie Farren (1997) Sir Arthur Sullivan Society
• Hollingshead, John. Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance (1903) London:Gaity Theatre Co