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Shakespearean starlet descends on Derby

She was 19th Century version of today's top-earning movie stars, eventually worth the equivalent of a million pound and with the audience at her feet.

Actress Eleanora Tree, born the same year that Shakespearean actor Stephen Kemble was on stage as Falstaff at the Derby Theatre, would eventually play at the town's Theatre Royal as the enchanting Rosalind in Shakespeare's comedy “As You Like It”, according to this playbill from the British Library's collection.

Theatre Royal, Derby playbill (c) British Library
Ellen Tree as Hermione (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

It was an interesting point in her career. At the time of this playbill Miss Tree was a well-established leading actress and had worked in London at Drury Lane, Haymarket and Convent Garden theatres.

Charles Kean (c) Folger Shakespeare Library
In the title role of the brave and witty Rosalind, she would have been a big draw for the punters flooding into the town for Race Week

She had fallen in love with similarly esteemed Shakespearean actor Charles Kean, two years earlier during an engagement in Germany.

He was a junior member of the company, she was by far the more experienced actor. Urged not to marry in haste, she resumed her career in England.

At the end of 1836 she went to America where she toured in Shakespeare productions playing roles such as Rosalind, Viola in “Twelfth Night” and Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing”.

By the time she came back to England three years later, she had made an enormous amount of money on her tour, a profit of £12,000 on the tour which is a sum of about £1 million today.

She wed Charles Kean in 1842 by which time he too he had become a successful actor and together they created a formidable professional partnership.

She became known as Ellen Keane – or Mrs Charles Kean – passing away aged 73, in 1880.

On this playbill, in the title role of the brave and witty Rosalind, she would have been a big draw for the punters flooding into the town for Race Week.

Quote from Rosalind in As You Like It

For most of the play, Rosalind, played here at the Derby Theatre by up and coming star Eleanora Tree, dons male garb, so she can teach the young man she loves how to woo her.

But she cannot disguise her true feelings so easily.

ROSALIND
Alas the day! what shall I do with my doublet
and hose? What did he when thou saw'st him? What
said he? How looked he? Wherein went he? What
makes him here? Did he ask for me? Where remains
he? How parted he with thee? And when shalt thou
see him again? Answer me in one word.

(3.2.223-228)

In Shakespeare’s time the role of Rosalind would have been played by a young man which would have underlined the chaos of gender at the heart of the play, with a male actor playing a woman who is pretending to be a man acting the part of a woman.

About Shakespeare on Tour

From the moment they were written through to the present day, Shakespeare’s plays have continued to enthral and inspire audiences. They’ve been performed in venues big and small – including inns, private houses and emerging provincial theatres.

BBC English Regions is building a digital picture which tracks some of the many iconic moments across the country as we follow the ‘explosion’ in the performance of The Bard’s plays, from his own lifetime to recent times.

Drawing on fascinating new research from Records of Early English Drama (REED), plus the British Library's extensive collection of playbills, as well as expertise from De Montfort University and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Shakespeare on Tour is a unique timeline of iconic moments of those performances, starting with his own troupe of actors, to highlights from more recent times. Listen out for stories on Shakespeare’s legacy on your BBC Local Radio station from Monday 21 March, 2016.

You never know - you might find evidence of Shakespeare’s footsteps close to home…

Craig Henderson, BBC English Regions

Related Links

Shakespeare on Tour: Around Derby

Shakespeare on Tour: Around the country