Alice Marriott (17 December 1824 – 25 December 1900), known professionally as Mrs Marriott or Miss Marriott, was a nineteenth-century British stage actress. She was known for regularly playing the part of Hamlet in doublet and hose, to good reviews. She married Robert Edgar, lessee of Sadler's Wells Theatre, and took responsibility for management and production at this and other theatres for some years, besides touring America and Britain. Towards the end of her career she played alongside Sir Henry Irving and Dame Ellen Terry at the Lyceum Theatre, London, but it was Alice Marriott who "made the female Hamlet respectable in England." She was the grandmother of Edgar Wallace and Marriott Edgar.
Background
Alice Marriott was born on 17 December 1824 in London, and baptised on 13 February 1825 at St Leonard's, Shoreditch, London. Her parents were James Henry Marriott (c. 1800 – 25 August 1886), a London, England-born New Zealand theatre manager, actor, entertainer, dramatist, songwriter, engraver, optician and bookseller and his wife, Sarah.England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch (International Genealogical Index)
In 1856, Alice married Robert "Bob" Edgar in the St George's Square area of London. Marriages Jun 1856 Edgar Robert, Mariott Alice, St. George Square 1d 130 Robert Edgar was the "last lessee of the old Liver Theatre in Church Street, Liverpool, and the first lessee of the Royal Park Theatre, Liverpool." He was living in Wigan at the time.The Liver Theatre, Liverpool, was built as The Pantheon in 1824, renamed the Liver Theatre in 1829, and converted into shops in 1850. The Royal Park Theatre, Liverpool, was built in 1852 and converted into a warehouse in the 20th century.
During the 1860s, after living for ten years in New Zealand, James Henry Marriott returned to visit his daughter Alice while she was co-manager of Sadler's Wells. Robert Edgar died a few years after the visit. Edgar was allegedly a "useless creature whom Alice dignified with the title of manager. In fact she did everything about the theatre, even to counting out the salaries on Saturdays ... She made a great deal of money and would have been wealthy had she not married Robert Edgar, who was convinced that he knew the best way to invest it. He had a mania for buying up shop property at high prices and selling, generally, at a loss."The New Zealand Railways Magazine vol.14, issue 5, 1 August 1939: Alice Marriott of Sadlers Wells Theatre In 1869 the Islington Gazette added further information, that Edgar was summonsed for non-payment of a year's worth of beer money. He pleaded that "business was not now very flourishing," but had to pay.Islington Gazette, Friday 5 November 1869 p3 col2: Clerkenwell County Court
The 1881 Census finds Alice Edgar in Southport, a widow aged 55 years and an actress. With her are her son Richard H.M. Edgar, a comedian with his wife, three of his children, a housekeeper and a governess.United Kingdom census, 1881 RG11/3749 p2 Alice Marriott died suddenly on Christmas night, 1900, at 8 Bryanston Street, Portman Square, London. Deaths Dec 1900 Edgar Alice 76 Marylebone 1a 379Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, Saturday 29 December 1900 p4 col4: Death of Miss Marriott
Descendants
Her three children were all born in Lancashire: Richard Horatio Marriott (1847–1894), Births Dec 1847 Marriott Richard Horatio Chorlton XX 251 Deaths Dec 1894 Edgar Richard Horatio 46 Fulham 1a 119 Adeline Marriott (b. 1853), Births Sep 1853 Marriott Adeline West Derby 8b 242 and Grace Marriott (b. 1858). Births Sep 1858 Marriott Grace Stockport 8a 5 All three were products of liaisons before her marriage,Gänzl, Kurt. "Old Adam: or, when talent skips a generation", KurtofGerolstein.blogspot.com.au. 25 May 2018. and all three took Alice's husband's surname later.Lane, Margaret, Edgar Wallace, the Biography of a Phenomenon, The Book Club (1939) Richard was a sometime comic pantomime actor, under the name of Richard Marriott Edgar.Daily Telegraph & Courier (London), Tuesday 28 December 1869 p2 col6: Sadler's Wells
One of her grandsons was the pantomime dame George Marriott Edgar (1880–1951), Deaths Jun 1951 Edgar George M. 70 Battle 5h 27Newcastle Evening Chronicle, Tuesday 15 May 1951 p7 col6: death of Marriott Edgar known professionally as Marriott Edgar. He was born in Scotland,The Stage, Thursday 17 May 1951 p3 col1: Marriott Edgar the son of Richard Horatio Marriott Edgar, and he was the dramatic author who wrote the comic monologue, The Lion and Albert for Stanley Holloway.The Stage, Thursday 24 May 1951 p3 col4: Tribute to Marriott Edgar, by Stanley Holloway Another grandson was the writer Edgar Wallace (1875–1932), the illegitimate son of Richard Horatio Marriott Edgar.
Career
Marriott began her career as a dancer, trained by Oscar Byrne. She first performed at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, until asked at short notice to take the part of Biddy Nuts in Wreck Ashore by Buckstone. Subsequently, she played chambermaid roles until she had the opportunity to play tragedy in Liverpool. "Rapidly she rose in public estimation, one success following hard upon the heels of another." She had a "decided triumph" as Bianca in Fazio at Drury Lane, then she performed at the Surrey Theatre, directed at the National Standard theatre, and became acting manager of Sadler's Wells. During her career so far, she was known for playing Hamlet, Meg Merrilies, Helen Macgregor, Gertrude, and Emilia in Othello.London and Provincial Entr'acte - Saturday 30 July 1870 p3 col1: Our biography
An alternative version of her life states that her stage debut was in December 1854 at the Old Drury. She "served her novitiate" at the Adlephi Theatre, Liverpool, where her husband-to-be, "Bob" Edgar, was acting manager.Music Hall and Theatre Review, Friday 11 October 1907 p14 col3 The Royal Hippodrome In December 1858 she performed in Pauline, or Three Murderers of De Burcy, and in Jane Brightwell, or The Beggar's Petition at the Royal Adelphi, Sheffield.The play Jane Brightwell may have been based on the poem The Beggar's Petition by Thomas Moss
In 1863 Alice Marriott and Robert Edgar took over the management of Sadler's Wells Theatre for six years. Edgar was nominally the manager, but Marriott undertook production, acting and management. For the winter season beginning September 1864, her improvements included providing chairs for the dress circle and allowing women to wear bonnets in the pit-stalls. The first play that season was Love,Possibly this play: Gutenberg project: The Love-Chase by James Sheridan Knowles by Sheridan Knowles. A reviewer said: "The company, ... if not quite equal to the sustainment of so refined a drama, is nevertheless more than respectable."Illustrated London News, Saturday 24 September 1864 p18 col3 She was "for some years lessee of several theatres, including the Sadler's Wells and the Standard at Shoreditch. She played also in the provinces." The couple gave up the lease of Sadler's Wells at the end of 1869 after their American tour, and in 1870 it was taken over by William Henry Pennington.Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, Friday 4 June 1869 p5 col2: Local news On 15 January 1870 Marriott appeared at Sadler's Wells (now leased by Mr Pennington) as Julia, in The Hunchback, and she performed in The Lady of Lyons and Fazio there in the same week.Illustrated London News, Saturday 22 January 1870 p22 col3: Miss Marriott has returned
After her return from touring between 1870 and 1881 with Miss Marriott's Dramatic Company," she managed Sadler's Wells again from 1881 for about eight years. At some point before 1890 she joined the Lyceum Company, acting with Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.Sadlers Wells theatre archive: Miss Marriott the female Hamlet, by Carys Lewis, 17 November 2011 For example, she performed in Ravenswood there in 1890.Illustrated London News, Saturday 15 November 1890 p29 col3: Lyceum, RavenswoodThe play Ravenswood may have been based on Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor
Marriott "made much of her income from melodrama," but also played Shakespearean roles such as Juliet and Lady Macbeth regularly, and later Romeo. She played one of the witches in Henry Irving's 1889 Macbeth at the Lyceum. She was described as the "ultimate tragedienne" for her lead part in Jeanie Deans. She played the Adelphi Theatre, London, in 1895 and 1898.University of Massachusetts: The Adelphi Theatre calendar
Playing Hamlet
Marriott played Hamlet "thousands of times." On the first occasion, her "leading man disappointed her", she stepped in successfully: an encouraging start. She was not the only woman to play Hamlet. Other Women in Black who played the part in the 19th century were Winetta Montague, Clare Howard, Louise Pomeroy, Charlotte Compton, Millicent Bandmann-Palmer, Julia Seaman and Oliph Webb, to name a few.Illustrated London News, Saturday 17 June 1899 p13: Some women players of HamletTony Howard, Women as Hamlet : Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge England (2007) (Tony Howard calls female interpreters of Hamlet "Women in black" in the title of his first chapter, because the traditional Hamlet stage costume was black in the 19th century.) She is first recorded as playing Hamlet in an 1859 tour of Glasgow, Bath, Birmingham, Dublin and Liverpool, three years after marrying Robert Edgar, and one year after giving birth to Grace Marriott, of whom Edgar was not the father. Following this, she played the same Prince of Denmark at the Theatre Royal, Marylebone, in 1861.
After taking over Sadler's Wells Theatre with her husband Robert Edgar in 1863, she first played Hamlet there on 22 February 1864,Footlight notes: Alice Marriott. Includes review quoted from Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Tuesday, 20 April 1869, p.2f the tricentenary of Shakespeare's birth. Samuel Phelps had already begun a tradition there for "scrupulous productions of Shakespeare for working and lower middle-class audiences", and Marriott and Edgar developed this further with an "archaeologically correct production, with new and characteristic scenery, new and appropriate costumes, new and elaborate machinery and correct armour," all directed and superintended by Marriott. The theatre advertised that "medieval documents, weapons and architecture have been copied with exactness ... the result of long and anxious deliberation on the subject, assisted by such evidence as may be deemed authentic." Nevertheless, this was still a play with "Shakespeare's fluidity" and a cross-dressing woman at the heart of it, so at the same time she had to make it work. She played the part four nights a week - 50 nights altogether - to enthusiastic reviews: "It is the Hamlet of Miss Marriott that will attract the Shakespeareans in the Shakespearean year." This success may have been helped - or hindered - by her being "tall, massive and middle-aged at that time."The Stage, Thursday 6 May 1999 p9 col1: Heydays, a little bit of a drag
She was back in Liverpool playing Hamlet by 22 April 1864, where the theatre doors were thrown open and she played for free." In 1887 she played Hamlet at Her Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen.Aberdeen Press and Journal, Wednesday 14 September 1887 p1 col2: Her Majesty's Theatre
American tour