5/5 1883 Fedora opens at the Haymarket

(Mrs Bernard Beere as Fedora)

Fedora is a play by French author Victorien Sardou who originally wrote it for the legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt. I was unable to find the plot of the play, if anyone knows please let me know! It opened in France in 1882 and within a year an English translation by H. Merivale was ready to be staged in London starring both Mr and Mrs Bancroft the actor-managers of the Haymarket theatre. Mrs Bernard Beere starred as Fedora. Mrs Beere had made her debut on the stage in 1877 and moved from company to company until signing up with the Bancrofts in 1883. By the 1890s Beere had joined Wyndham's company of actors and played in many productions including Wildes' 'A Woman of No Importance' opposite Herbert Tree. Beere passed away in 1915 at the age of 59.

I found the photo above in the V&A's Theatre collection, you can read about the photo and a little about the history of theatrical photographs by clicking on this link... here.

There is online at www.abebooks.co.uk a programme for sale of the 1883 production of Fedora at the Haymarket... imagine that, a piece of Theatrical Ephemera from 129 years ago... so if you're interested in the item please click here.

Of course reading this you are probably wondering 'Does Fedora the play have anything to do with the hat?'. The answer would be yes. Sarah Bernhardt was such a trendsetter that when she wore the Fedora hat onstage, at the time the Fedora was a feminine style hat, it wasn't until the very late 1800s that it became more of a men's style. 

January the 27th in Theatrical History

(portraint by Jean-Francois Gilles Colson)

On this date in 1720 Samuel Foote was born in Cornwall. Foote would become both a playwright and an actor eventually running the Haymarket Theatre. Foote was known as a great wit and in 1748 he wrote the play 'An Auction of Pictures' which was a satire based on the infamous satirist Henry Fielding, this led to a famous war of words and wit. However when Foote began a quarrell with another actor it led to a riot at the Haymarket Theatre. There are a few missing Foote plays but the latest one to have been published was Piety in Patterns which was finally published in 1973 which should show us all that there is hope for those supposed 'lost plays' that they maybe locked away in some private collection or library somewhere.

In 1845 'The Green Bushes' was produced at the Adelphi theatre by John Baldwin Buckstone. The play included two stanzas of the popular English folk song Green Bushes. Buckstone wrote over 150 plays and rose to be the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre and he is now said to be haunting that same theatre appearing in the wings watching something that he finds particularly good or amusing. Sightings of his ghost have even been reported by actors including Patrick Stewart.