Faucit, Helen (Saville)
Faucit, Helen (Saville) (1817–98),English actress from a theatrical family. She made her debut in 1836 at Covent Garden, playing Juliet, Katherine, Portia, Desdemona, and Constance in her first season. In 1837 she commenced her professional partnership with Macready, during which she added Cordelia, Hermione, Rosalind, and Beatrice to her repertoire, performing them in her customary—increasingly dated—idealized style.
Helen Faucit's marriage to Theodore Martin (knighted in 1880 for his biography of Prince Albert) coincided with Macready's retirement and thereafter she acted only on special occasions such as the opening of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1879, when she appeared as Beatrice to Barry Sullivan's Benedick. Later that year in the Calvert Memorial Performance—her age, vocal delivery, and costume notwithstanding—she evoked ‘intense admiration’ as Rosalind. Helen Faucit's On Some of...
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