• March 31st, 1809 - March 4th, 1852 (age 42) 
• Ukrainian-born Russian author & dramatist

• younger brother, Ivan, died when Gogol was only 10 

• Failed attempts...

• Plan to escape Russia & hideous life...

• lived out the government post, taught as an assistant professor of medieval history @ Saint Petersburg University, & didn't give up writing

        - eventually did become
          famous for his writing & it
          happened almost overnight
           * wrote about childhood
              memories in Ukraine
           * wrote about devils, witches,
              & other demonic/fantastic
              agents that excited Ukraine
              culture

• participated in family's amateur theatricals as a child
• married an older, wealthy attorney @ age 15 [James Mowatt] but continued her study of literature & history 
• turned her writing into a career in 1841, when her husband lost his fortune & showed a decline in health/eyesight

• Fashion

• made her acting debut on June 13th, 1845, which was warmly received 

        - praised for natural style by
          Edgar Allan Poe

Edmund Kean 

• 1789-1833
• rebellious youth; on his own by age 15
• spent 10 years performing on provincial tours & in minor London theatres 
• married actress Mary Chambers; they had 2 sons but 1 died at an early age 
• made a sensational debut @ Drury Lane, playing Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice when he was 27
• created his own acting technique; constructed his roles to highlight emotional transitions, which was a different type of character development 
• lifestyle/alcoholism diminished both his skill & popularity

  

  as Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

Charles Kean 

• 1811-1868
• lacked in talent compared to the rest of the family but was forced to "give it a go" when Edmund's career began to decline
• made his debut @ Drury Lane in 1827 & had first success with Hamlet 
• 1850-1859; managed the Princess Theatre, which became the most fashionable theatre in London; retired in 1859

  

John Philip Kemble [eldest brother of 12]

• 1757-1823
• originally trained for priesthood but left to become an actor
• made his London debut in 1738, playing Hamlet 

Sarah Siddons [eldest sister of 12]

• 1755-1831
• early career was spent touring provincial theatres 
• achieved fame on the stage of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
• married an undistinguished actor @ 18 [William Siddons], whom she had 5 children & was also unhappy with 
• "queen of tragedy"

Charles Kemble 

• 1775-1854
• effective Shakespearean actor admired for "gentlemanly" portrayals of Romeo, Hamlet, & Benedick 
• managed the Covent Garden from 1817-1832 

Frances Anne [Charles Kemble's oldest daughter] 

• 1809-1893
• poet, dramatist, diarist, an actress 
• made her debut as Juliet in 1829 @ Covent Garden 
• immediate popularity saved the theatre from financial ruin 
• fame followed her to the U.S. when she toured NY & Philadelphia with her father (1832-1833) 
• married an American plantation owner & retired but her marriage became rocky over the issue of slavery 

• grew up with theater but entered Rugby School to prepare for a career in law 

• introduced the "Macready pause" 

• directed companies @ Covent Garden & Drury Lane from 1837-1843 

• also one of the first to begin restoring Shakespearean texts to something closer to the original versions 
• retired from the stage in 1851; work paved the way for realistic acting & staging of the late 19th century

  

  as Macbeth

• 1845-1923
• famous for her eccentricities & temperament 
• demanded her salary in gold & supposedly slept in a coffin 
• made her debut @ Comedie Francaise in 1862; stayed with the company until 1882 
• master of stage technique but her chief asset was her voice, which was often compared to a golden bell 
• managed theatres in Paris twice 
• toured the U.S. many times

  

Eleonora Duse 

• 1858-1924
• quiet & reclusive
• parents were both actors & she made her own stage debut @ age 4
• playing Juliet by age 14 
• struggled for many years after the death of her parents, until appearing in Naples [1879] as the title character in Emile Zola's production, Therese Raquin 
• formed her own company after touring 
• didn't wear make-up; used her expressive face, eyes, & gestures to convey the thoughts of a character 
• retired in 1909 because of ill health but financial problems forced her back onstage after WWI 

        - died while on tour in
          Pittsburgh

• 1797-1856 
• despite difficulty in theatre-life for women, Madame Vestris was able to both make major innovations in staging while making a profit as proprietor of the Olympic Theatre 
• had 15 years of experience prior to opening her theatre 
• married Auguste Armand Vestris [dancer & 1 member of a famous family of ballet performers] when she was 16

• continued to act, playing in Paris for many years & then @ the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres 
• had an excellent singing voice & might have made a career in opera but instead played in different theatre shows 
• breeches roles [woman playing the part of a young man & thus having the opportunity to show off her legs] were 1 of her specialties
• opened her Olympic Theatre with Olympic Revels 

• credited with introducing the box set to England around 1832 
• maintained strict control over her acting company to achieve everything she wanted onstage 
• re-married to Charles Matthews in 1838 

        - light comedian in her
          company
        - managed the Covent Garden
          together for 3 years after an
          American tour

Laura Keene 

• 1826-1873
• successful woman in the business of theatre management during the 19th century 
• born in England but very little is known of her early life; the year of her birth & her real name are uncertain 
• married @ a young age to a man who was supposedly exiled to Australia as a convict 
• opened Laura Keene's Varieties in December of 1855

• produced one of the biggest hits of the 19th century, Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin 
• unfortunately known for...

• forced into retirement by ill health; died in 1873 but her work encouraged many other women to enter the field before passing

  

Richard Wagner 

• 1813-1883 
• best-known as an opera composer 
• important as a stage & directing theorist 

• acquainted with opera & theatre from his earliest years; neglected all of his studies besides music as a child 
• age 17; had an overture performed in the Leipzig Theatre 
• spent a short but wild time @ the University of Leipzig, then spent the next several years working as the conductor of orchestras 
• forced to flee in 1849; needed to avoid arrest for taking part in the revolution of 1848

• interested in Germanic myths, believed in supremacy of Germans, & anti-Semitism beliefs led him to be Hitler's favorite composer 

• held important innovations for increasing stage illusion 

        - musicians were forbidden to
          tune instruments in the
          orchestra pit
         - audience members weren't
           allowed to applaud during the
           course of a presentation
         - often credited with being the
           1st director to extinguish the
           house lights in order to focus
           the audience's attention on
           the stage

Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

• 1826-1914
• originally hoped to pursue a military career in Berlin but was ordered to return to Saxe-Meiningen by his father once the revolution of 1848 broke out in Germany 

• married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, with whom he had 3 children, in 1850 

• supervised the court theatre in the evenings, planning/directing productions & providing sketches for scenery & costumes 
• insisted on historical accuracy & spent lavish sums on rich fabrics/authentic decor for stunning visuals 
• Meiningen company astounded the world with its acting ensemble & historically accurate productions 
• the years before Georg's death [1914] were tranquil & his 3rd marriage was a happy one 
• considered 1 of the first modern directors [as the director of many Shakespearean & romantic dramas] 

        - revolutionized stage
          production
        - rehearsed his actors with
          scenery & costumes for
          extensive periods of time,
          until he believed that all
          elements were unified
        - used company actors rather
          than amateurs/paid extras
          * mostly employed young
             actors
        - admired for historically
          accurate/practical
          settings, costumes that
          helped establish character,
          lighting effects, & sound         
          effects

• made his own dramatic debut in 1849, then continued on to play small parts in his father's company 
• NY debut in 1857 established him as the most promising young actor in the U.S. 

• played Hamlet for 100 consecutive nights in NY [record that wasn't surpassed until 1923] 
• built his own theatre in 1869 

• lived the rest of his life as a touring star & was one of the first American actors to achieve international fame 
• personal life = quiet & melancholy 
• experienced 3 tragedies: 1. first wife died after 2.5 years of marriage 2. second wife went mad after the loss of their infant son 3. brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Abraham Lincoln

  

• 1729-1796
• began her reign in 1762; lasted until 1796 
• theatrical activity began to increase under her reign 

        - ordered the Bolshoi
          Theatre to be built in Saint
          Petersburg (1771)
       - established the Imperial
         Theatre School to train
         Russian actors, dancers, &
         singers

Anton Chekhov 

• 1860-1904
• Russian playwright & master of the modern short story 

• produced 4 classics 

        - The Seagull (1896)
        - Uncle Vanya (1898)
        - Three Sisters (1900)
        - The Cherry Orchard (1903)