Harriet Smithson

On 27 May 1814, Smithson made her first stage appearance at the Theatre Royal (Dublin), as Albina Mandevill in Frederick Reynolds's The Will.[2] Her performance was well received, and the Freeman's Journal gave her a positive review.

She certainly is a most interesting and promising young actress, and there is no doubt she would prove a great acquisition to Crow-street, in the line of performance which her taste, as well as her talents, incline her to pursue.[2]

In 1815, Smithson took her parents' place in Montague Talbot's company in Belfast after they returned to Dublin.[2] The season opened on 1 January 1816, where she extended her range in roles, performing in multiple comedies.[2] She then travelled to Newry, Limerick, Dublin, and Burmingham, where she joined Robert Elliston's company. She spent the next two months playing over forty roles in various genres.[2]

Four years later, 20 January 1818, Smithson made her first London appearance at Drury Lane as Letitia Hardy in The Belle's Stratagem.[2] Her first performance received mixed reviews from critics, but she quickly gained some favour of critics and performers as she obtained more experience.[2]

She joined the permanent company at the Royal Coburg later that year. However, she rejoined Drury Lane Company in the autumn of 1820. On 20 February 1821, she took the lead female role in Thérèse by John Howard Payne, when the cast actress fell ill.[2]

Overall, the London public remembered her as The Times put it, “a face and features well adapted to her profession; but [an actress] not likely to make a great impression on a London audience, or to figure among stars of the first magnitude.”[5]

In 1827, Smithson made her Paris début as Lydia Languish in The Rivals at the Odéon theatre. Though she received negative reviews for this role, she was highly praised for her beauty and ability in the subsequent performance of She Stoops to Conquer.[2]

On 11 September 1827, she was given the small part of Ophelia next to Charles Kemble in Shakespeare's Hamlet.[2] She left a long lasting impression on the French through her interpretation of Ophelia's madness, utilizing pantomime and natural presentation.

Miss Smithson acted the scene in which, robbed of her sanity, she takes her own veil to be her father's body with utmost grace and truth. The whole passage which seemed long and relatively insignificant and even exaggerated in reading, had tremendous impact on stage…The most remarkable feature of her acting is her pantomime; she adopts fantastic postures; and she uses the dying fall in her inflections, without ever ceasing to be natural…[6]

Charles Kemble and Harriet Smithson as Romeo and Juliet

The tremendous success of Hamlet led to the announcement of Romeo & Juliet, for 15 September. Smithson was cast as Juliet, where she revolutionized the women's role in theatre by becoming as important as her male counterpart, Romeo.[2] Until this point, women's lines in theatre were heavily cut and censored to reduce the role for the company's “restricted talent.”[2] Again, the production was widely well received.[2]

Miss Smithson was charged with the role of Juliet, and she was excellent in it. It was in the scene in the second act, where she has a night meeting with Romeo, that her acting began to attract the audience's attention. This scene is extremely beautiful, even though it is written with a studied refinement...Miss Smithson could not have been more graceful upon the balcony; her posture were full of truth, grace, and love...In her strong moments, she is no longer a woman, but a Fury or something approaching that...[7]

On 18 September, Shakespeare's Othello became the third Shakespeare tragedy to be performed by The English theatre. Her performance as Desdemona was less effective, but the production was popular enough to be repeated the week after.[2]

The English Theatre replaced the productions of tragedies with comedies, such as The Belle's Stratagem, The School for Scandal, Mrs. Centlivre's The Wonder, and Mrs. Cowley's The Weathercock. However, press's demand for more tragedies led to the production of The Tragedy of Jane Shore.[2] In this renowned tragedy, Smithson was cast as Shore, the role in which she moved her audience to tears. The production soon became the most performed play in the English season. At the end of her time in France, she acted in several productions with famous actors such as William Charles Macready, Edmund Kean, and Charles Kemble.[2]

Smithson became famous for her natural presentation of characters, striking pantomime, and beauty. She introduced the French to natural English theatrical techniques that allowed her to become her characters instead of simply portraying them.[2] The new acting style, emphasizing drama and truth, which appealed to the French Romantics, prevailed over traditional French Classicists' idea of great acting.[2] Soon, many French actresses started to imitate her methodology.[2]

As opportunities to continue her work in Paris dwindled, Smithson returned to London to perform Jane Shore again.[2] The production opened at Covent Garden on 11 May 1829 under unfavorable circumstances. Some audience members, who had read her reviews before she went to Paris, felt reluctant to attend the show. Furthermore, the London press was anxious to prove that their previous reviews of her average acting were accurate. Newspapers such as the Examiner gave the first performance a begrudging review:[2]

Her action is easy and graceful though somewhat redundant. Her declamation and studied choice of attitudes show that she has been a careful student in the French school of High tragedy. Her voice from a peculiarity in its intonation has a monotonous effect…[8]

However, just seven days after her next performance as Juliet, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the press, including The Examiner, gave her glowing reviews:

Miss Smithson's performance of Juliet, take it as a whole, is by many degrees the best we have seen since the days of Miss O'Neil…She is the best tragic actress now in London.[9]

She appeared as Belvidera in Venice Preserved and as Mrs Simpson in Simpson and Co on the Lincoln Circuit at the Peterborough theatre between 27th June and July 2nd 1831. [10] After Covent Garden closed for the summer in 1832, Smithson toured England to minor theatres performing almost exclusively in tragedies.[2] In June 1832, she joined the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, where she had limited success and received criticism about her weight.[2]

In 1830, Smithson went back to Paris to set up an English theatre under her own management.[2] She obtained permission to perform at the Theatre-Italien where she performed several unsuccessful plays. A year later, she broke her leg and was forced to put her career on hold until her leg healed.[2] She was now in great debt, yet her mother and sister still depended on her for support.[2] She gave her last performance, as Ophelia, on 15 December 1836, before her health deteriorated.