Yashdip Singh Bains and Norma Jenckes
This study of the Fanny and Charles Kemble tour of Canada in 1833, based on contemporary newspaper reviews in Montreal and Quebec City, suggests what the visit was like and how Canadians received the two stars.
Cette étude de la tournée de Fanny Kemble et Charles Kemble du Canada en 1833, qui s'est fondé sur les critiques des journaux contemporains à Montréal et à Québec, semble indiquer comment s'est passé la visite et comment les deux vedettes ont été reçus.
Crowned by American critics as 'the Queen of Tragedy from Boston to New Orleans,' Fanny Kemble (1809-1893), daughter of Charles (1775-1854) and niece of the illustrious John Philip Kemble, crossed the Atlantic in 1832 in the hope that 'America might rally her father's spirits, improve his health and restore his finances.' 1 This visit has been frequently documented, but the biographers have summarized its Canadian segment in July and August of 1833 as a 'short holiday trip,' an 'idyllic summer, 'a much needed holiday,' and a 'junketing to Niagara Falls and over into Canada.' 2Noting with disappointment the fact that Fanny Kemble's journal of the tour stopped on 17 July 1833 at Niagara Falls, historians are turning to Canadian newspapers of the day for evidence of the Kemble tour during a rather strenuous busman's holiday in Montreal and Quebec City. The present study draws on the 1833 reviews to suggest what the visit was like and how Canadians received the Kembles.
Accompanied up the Hudson by Edward J. Trelawny, Byron's friend and co-adventurer, Fanny Kemble stirred interest even in that jaded traveller who saw in her a remarkable resemblance to the man whose heart he had snatched from the fire on the shore of Lake Como. Trelawny remembered his first meeting with the actress in a letter written 15 May 1834: 'From some real or imagined resemblance in person or mind, or both, you recalled his [Shelley's] image so vividly to my mind that I was forced to admire you on the instant.' 3The first major British actress to perform in North America, Fanny Kemble enforced admiration everywhere; her stage actions were mimicked in the streets of Boston and her riding cap set the fashion in Philadelphia. Canadians, like the Americans, were overwhelmed by the charms of the performer who promised the continuity of the great name of Kemble in the theatre.
More than a traveller's curiosity or theatrical commitment lured the Kembles north in the summer of 1833. Family ties took them to Montreal and Quebec City, where Vincent DeCamp, an actor-manager whose sister Maria Theresa married Charles Kemble in 1806, had leased the Theatres Royal.4 DeCamp organized a family reunion when he invited his famous niece and his brother-in-law to the Canadian theatres. Travelling with Fanny as her wardrobe mistress was her beloved Aunt Dall, Adelaide DeCamp. Another DeCamp sister was also enlisted into the company in the person of Sophia. She was the wife of Frederick Brown, who had, since 1818, acted in the John Philip Kemble style in Canadian towns from Nova Scotia to Ontario and who was the first manager of Montreal's Theatre Royal in 1825-26. 5 Also joining the group in Quebec City was John Mason, a nephew of Charles Kemble, who had made his first appearance on the American stage at the Park Theatre, New York, on 10 December 1832. 6
The tour of 1833 let Canadians observe first hand the Kemble mystique in acting. Despite hot weather and poor ventilation, patrons crowded the Theatres Royal in Montreal and Quebec City to catch glimpses of the twenty-four-year old star and the fifty- eight-year old veteran of Covent Garden.7 Unlike the 'unapplausive' audiences whose reserve annoyed the Kembles in Philadelphia,8 Canadians cheered their visitors enthusiastically. Although some of the reviewers sensed that the Kembles 'can derive no additional fame from anything we may say' (QM 13 Ag),9 they treated the Kemble appearances as a rare opportunity to show their familiarity with acting techniques and playtexts by analysing various readings of well-known passages or entire scenes and the 'points' or moments of high tension in tragedies and comedies. They commented on the figures, voices, attitudes and other attributes of the two actors and compared Fanny Kemble frequently with her aunt Mrs. Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), the greatest tragic actress of the English stage.
The Montreal papers announced the Kemble visit late in June, with the warning that 'there are impediments in the way of accomplishing this object, from the rate demanded for the use of our theatre being deemed too extravagant by Mr. DeCamp' (MG 27 Jn). The Kembles went there 'upon the same terms as everywhere else, i.e. division of profits.' 10 In a fashion typical of the age, the press generated excitement about the Kemble visit by carrying a notice of their performance in Albany, New York, of Kotzebue's The Stranger, in which John Philip Kemble and Mrs. Siddons had played the roles of the Stranger and Mrs. Haller in 1798. About Charles and Fanny Kemble in the same roles) an Albany reviewer stated: 'If it be not the perfection of acting, we can have no conception of what constitutes it' (MA 11 Jl). Fanny Kemble, according to this critic, had 'not only maintained the reputation of her distinguished uncle and aunt, John Philip Kemble and Mrs. Siddons, but has even added to it; for it is being admitted that in more than one of her characters she is unsurpassed.' The papers also acclaimed the father and daughter in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing as 'one of those beautiful pieces of acting which affect and delight' (MA 19 Jl).
For their opening night in Theatre Royal, Montreal, on 24 July 1833, the Kembles selected Otway's Venice Preserved; or, A Plot Discovered, in which they portrayed the tender loves of Jaffeir and his Belvidera. About this extremely popular tragedy of love, honour and friendship, the Montreal Advertiser (20 Jl) had already said that 'cold indeed must be the breast which can resist emotion, when both author and actress are everything that fastidious criticism can devise.' The house was 'a regular bumper' (MV 26 Jl). Fanny Kemble had refined her interpretation of Belvidera in the two years since the reviewer had seen her at Covent Garden:
Belvidera was the character in which we last had the pleasure of witnessing Miss Kemble's extraordinary powers, and although we then thought her acting a chaste and natural performance, we confess that two years study have enabled her to throw into the performance beauties of which we scarcely deemed the character capable. (MA 25 Jl)
The 'true' and 'natural' style of the
Kembles 'produced almost an electric effect on the audience' (MV
26 Jl). Fanny Kemble could not have portrayed human passions, the Montreal
Gazette
(25 Jl) remarked, 'without a combination of mental powers of the highest
class with every acquirement the most laborious study can give.' Explaining
her staying power in the role, this critic found that 'she carried with
her the feelings of the audience, and displayed conspicuously those high
and commanding talents that render her a not unworthy successor of her
aunt, the great Mrs. Siddons.' Miss Kemble's 'action is appropriate without
redundancy, and her enunciation and intonation are now perfect observed
the Montreal Advertiser (25 Jl). Charles Kemble played Jaffeir,
Belvidera's husband, but the Advertiser was aware that he was better
known for his Pierre:
We have seen him repeatedly in both Pierre as well as Jaffeir, and we prefer the former infinitely; and we venture to say his own good judgment would bear us out, especially as a portion of the effect of some of the scenes between Jaffeir and Belvidera is lost by the difficulty of forgetting the relation which Mr. and Miss Kemble bear to each other.
This critic also briefly remarked on
the incompetence of the minor actors and emphasized that the play did not
move the audience emotionally 'owing to the ridicule excited by the performance
of Renault and the conspirators' scenes generally.' Despite the mistakes
of the supporting cast, the evening proved to be a 'rich intellectual treat'
which 'will not be speedily effaced from their memories' (MG 25
Jl).
On 25 July, Fanny Kemble took up the part of Bianca in Milman's Fazio; or, The Italian Wife, a role originally made famous by Eliza O'Neill (1791-1872). This was Fanny Kemble's debut piece in 1832 in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. Miss Kemble left 'nothing to desire,' reported the Montreal Advertiser (26 Jl), 'In the first scene she is playful and engaging; and the first workings of jealousy in her breast on hearing the name of the object of Fazio's early passion were vividly depicted, yet subdued, as early suspicion naturally would be.' According to the same critic, Miss Kemble's 'attitudes are supremely beautiful, but they admit not of description. The carriage of her head and neck is strikingly so, and the bold free action of the whole arm, we remember to have seen only in the Kemble family, Pasta, and occasionally in the late Mr. Canning.'
The evening of the 26th, the Kembles personated the characters of Donna Violanta and Don Felix in Centlivre's comedy The Wonder, A Woman Keeps a Secret. Impressing her audience as the 'very perfection of acting,' the daughter and father 'painted not the high wrought jealousy of a Bianca or an Othello - they painted the jealousy of ordinary life' (MA 27 Jl). Fanny Kemble's 'walk, gesture, voice and figure sufficiently display the intimate knowledge of the character she represents, and therefore renders [sic] her most perfectly natural and unassuming through every variety of scene and circumstance' (MG 27 Jl). The Don Felix of Charles Kemble was 'dignified, and, when necessary, highly sublime and commanding,' stated the same reviewer:
The scene in which he so masterly portrayed the passion excited by jealousy, followed by that in which he became reconciled to Violanta, was performed in a manner which bids defiance to description, and infused into this elegant comedy a shade of tragic gravity that, for some moments, rivetted the audience in silent attention.
Fanny Kemble took her benefit on 29
July, and 'the house was crowded literally to overflowing. Benches were
placed upon the stage, the wings too were tenanted, and every avenue whence
a sight of the stage could be obtained or a sound caught was thronged'
(MA 30 Jl). Playing Mrs. Beverly in Edward Moore's popular domestic
tragedy, The Gamester, Fanny Kemble made 'no effort at stage effect,
no stratagem to produce excitement: easy, natural, self-possessed, and
lady-like, Miss Kemble reflected the classic genius of her family, with
a correctness and fidelity that proved the legitimacy of her exalted pedigree'
(MG 31 Jl). Mrs. Beverly's 'bursts of joy, such as her meetings
with Beverly after his night's absence -the sight of Lewson whom she supposed
dead - and others came upon the audience with an effect almost electrical:
and her scorn of Stukely, where he lays open to her his true character,
was given with an union of expression, tone, and gesture which will long
dwell in our memory' (MA 30 Jl). In the last scene, she depicted
the pathos of Mrs Beverly's sad situation with restraint:
The agony of an afflicted wife in the dying scene was a correct representation of nature, there was no ranting, no noisy exclamations, no unnatural contortions of countenance or limbs; but the deep stillness of a broken heart, and a dignified soul sinking into the blackest woe, marked the scene. (Canadian Courant 31 Jl.)
The part of Beverly was one of Charles
Kemble's superior roles, stated the Montreal Gazette (31 Jl):
His figure and action, heightened by the refinement of intellect and experience, proved his competency for the representative of a character, that requires each of these auxiliaries to pronounce perfect, and we cannot bring to our recollection an exception to the opinion we have formed, of his claim to superior merit in that difficult character.
Kemble got rounds of applause 'especially
in the scene with Stukely, which follows his first great loss, the scene
with Jarvis, where he experiences a temporary aberration of reason, and
the dying scene' (MH 31 Jl). Kemble's emotional range reminded the
reviewer of the Montreal Canadian Courant (31 Jl) of an earlier
theatrical visitor:
The expression of despair and misery was depicted in his countenance with a distinctness of feature beyond anything we have witnessed, except in the elder Kean, and the great command of countenance which he has acquired in depicting in the face the workings of the heart was finely exhibited in the masterly change in the expression of countenance by which the transition from, despair to jealousy was shown, in the scene where Stukely endeavours to shake his confidence in his wife's virtue.
On 31 July, Fanny and Charles Kemble
appeared respectively as Mrs. Haller and the Stranger in
The Stranger,
and
the Montreal Gazette (1 Ag) felt that the 'chasteness' of
Miss Kemble's tragic acting approximated 'as near perfection as nature
would permit.'The Montreal Canadian Courant
(3 Ag) underlined the
suitability of Fanny Kemble's talent for parts such as Mrs. Haller:
The deep agony of penitence and self-condemnation which depicts the feelings of the erring, but repentant, wife, is peculiarly adapted to her: in such characters she excels, and some of our elder friends aver that in Miss Kemble's Mrs. Haller, they can trace a strong resemblance to Mrs. Siddons' style of performance.
Miss Kemble's Mrs. Haller was, 'like
all her other characters, the evident result of superior mental cultivation,
rather than of a technical knowledge of mere stage tricks' (MA 1
Ag). Charles Kemble's presentation of the Stranger 'was grand, majestic
and dignified' (MG 1 Ag).
The Montreal critics delineated in detail the Kembles' handling of the reconciliation scene of The Stranger. The reviewer of the Montreal Gazette (1 Ag) wrote:
The sudden and unexpected recognition of her husband was portrayed by one of those agonizing and convulsive efforts that are only to be seen to be properly conceived, and though a fastidious world has endeavoured to stamp the concluding scene with an immoral tendency, it was, as represented last night, greatly improved, as the curtain at the close dropped upon the repentant party, leaving the imagination to estimate the probabilities, instead of, as formerly, furnishing the actual reality of mutual reconciliation.
The Montreal Canadian Courant (3
Ag) described how the closing scene 'was peculiarly calculated to exhibit
their respective powers in the depiction of those passions and feelings
for which they seem peculiarly adapted:'
The penitent wife, humbled to the dust at the contemplation of her guilt, and of the husband she had injured, and the still affectionate mother enquiring for her children with all the tenderness nature pours forth in such a situation, were deeply affecting. The sensation was heightened to the audience by the manner in which Mr. Kemble displayed the affectionate workings of a fond husband's heart, and the ties of paternal love. Few eyes beheld this great effort, which perhaps stands unequalled in the annals of the Drama in Montreal, without being moistened with the tears of sympathy. It is not exaggeration to say that as far as our eyes could extend through the house, nearly all the females & more than one half of the males participated in yielding this tender tribute to the powers of these distinguished performers, and the curtain fell leaving on all a conviction that in Mrs. Haller Miss Kemble far excels her performance as Mrs. Beverly.
On 1 August, the Kembles presented
Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, in which Charles took his
favourite role of Benedick. Fanny Kemble 'sustained the character of the
cheerful, witty and sarcastic Beatrice with great consistency, and drew
from the audience frequent bursts of applause and laughter' (MC
3 Ag). The Benedick of Charles Kemble 'produced but one opinion as to the
accurate delineation of character and the judgment exhibited, while the
Beatrice of his daughter left an impression, which will not be easily effaced
from the recollection of an admiring audience' (MG 3 Ag).
Charles Kemble took his benefit on 2 August in Sheridan's The School for Scandal, and the house 'was crowded, though not to the excess on the occasion of Miss Kemble's benefit' (MG 3 Ag). The part of Sir Peter was played by Charles Kemble and that of Lady Teazle by Fanny. Except for the screen scene in Joseph's lodgings and Lady Teazle's playful coaxing scene with Sir Peter, the play was a disappointment: 'The minor parts did not appear to us to have been well studied; the dialogue seemed to lag amazingly, and even Charles Kemble himself did not appear to us to play in his best spirits, though it is by no means his worst character' (MA 3 Ag).
The Kembles concluded the first part of their Montreal stay on 3 August with the presentation of Sheridan Knowles' The Hunchback, in which Fanny Kemble had played Julia during the London premiere. This evening was for the benefit of Vincent DeCamp, who had worked hard to make the Kemble tour a success. Fanny Kemble's Julia 'nearly equalled her Mrs. Haller, while it did not tinge the enjoyment of the audience by the consciousness of looking on a guilty creature' (MC 7 Ag). This Julia 'was spirited throughout. Her preference of a country life was in the usual playful style in which she gives such scenes, mixed, however, with an earnestness at once impressive and animating' (MA 5 Ag). The fourth act showed 'the full excellence' of Miss Kemble's performance: 'Where she recognizes the voice of her lover Clifford, in the Secretary to the Earl, the deep emotion she so beautifully portrayed, was felt to a considerable extent by the audience, and her mental struggle between the desire and the fear of beholding him, was most forcibly represented' (MA 5 Ag). Charles Kemble's Clifford, commented the same critic, 'was played with his usual correctness and skill, but we should say, with rather less than his usual spirit. He evidently laboured under an indisposition; yet, in the fourth act, in the long scene with his daughter, his accurate knowledge of the character he was representing shone forth conspicuously.'
Fanny Kemble and her father departed for Quebec City on 4 August 1833, where Fanny's passionate nature found some resonant reflection in the gorgeous scenery and setting of the capital which, she declared, 'is so fiercely picturesque - such crags, such dizzy, hanging heights, such perpendicular rocky walls, down to the very water's edge, and such a broad, bright bay.' The pomp and ceremony of garrison life she also appreciated: 'A fortress is always delightful to me; my destructiveness rejoices in guns and drums, and all the circumstance of glorious war.' 11
For her opening in Quebec City on 5 August, Fanny Kemble used the same play in which she had opened in New York, Philadelphia and Boston - Fazio,- or, The Italian Wife. The critic for the Quebec Mercury (6 Ag) gave a brief sketch of her physique and technique:
In person Miss Kemble is petite, but her figure is neat, and she possesses an uncommon power of elevating herself upon the stage, which gives her a greater appearance of height than is often possesse by women of a taller stature. The flexibility of her countenance and the expression of her eyes with the perfect command she has acquired over them, enable her to depict the various passions in a manner which almost renders words unnecessary.
Paying close attention to the actresss
ability to register change, the same reviewer noted:
The subdued voice, as if choking with conflicting passions ... the tone in which her husband's name 'Giraldi Fazio' was pronounced ... made a deep impression on the audience, ... whilst her countenance, aided by the fearful agitation of her whole frame, during the speeches of the Duke, ... gave an interest to that part of the scene which, but for such an actress, is, in itself, heavy and fatiguing.
The observant critic also bestowed
laurels on the young actress for her ability to project the high tragedy
of the final scene:
... the parting scene when she stands, fixed, and unconscious as a statue, when Fazio is led to execution, her address to Aldabella, 'Nay shrink not I'll not kill thee,' &c. and the manner in which Miss Kemble acquitted herself throughout the whole harrowing scene which concluded the tragedy, showed her an actress of first rate ability, mature in judgment, though young in years; and the heiress of the great qualities of the richly gifted family from which she has sprung.
Continuing their popular repertoire
on 7 August, the Kembles appeared together in Venice Preserved. Again,
Fanny's Belvidera was compared with that of her aunt, Mrs. Siddons: 'With
a vivid recollection of her powerful delineation of madness, we do not
hesitate in saying that Miss Kemble was last night, at least, not inferior
to her immortal relative in the terrific scene which closes the tragedy.'
The reviewer also appreciated the strengths of Charles Kemble's professionalism:
The effect produced by the acting of Mr. Kemble depends much on the constant attention he pays to the business of the stage. He has not adopted that negligem [sic] system we have seen practised by some great, and some would-be great, actors of dropping out of their part and standing listlessly on the stage as soon as they have ceased to speak, depending solely on the hits they make in certain points and leaving the rest of the character in shadow.
Charles Kemble's 'voice is clear and
under good management, his knowledge of the language perfect, he avoids
pedantry and affectation - his person, though stout, is good, and his attitudes
and action appropriate and elegant.' The reviewer of the Mercury also
dealt shrewdly with the problems of verisimilitude which the roles raised
for some viewers:
It has been urged as an objection to his appearing in this character when his daughter is on as Belvidera, that the relation in which they stand to each other diminishes the illusion. Had this not been suggested we own it would not have occurred to us, for age has dealt so leniently with the father, that dressed for the stage, there is not that apparent difference of years between himself and his daughter as to make improbable that two such persons could be man and wife, and as to their actual relationship, the objection might be as fairly urged were a brother and a sister [J.P. Kemble and Mrs. Siddons] cast for same characters.
When commenting on The Wonder, produced
on 9 August, the same reviewer perceived the high quality of Charles Kemble's
comic acting. As Don Felix, Kemble moved 'with an ease of carriage which
particularly fit him for characters in the highest walk of Comedy. ...
When surprised by her father, he pretends intoxication, he was admirable;
the absurdities of the drunken man were judiciously imitated without losing
sight of the gentleman, and the whole performance showed Mr. Kemble is
at least as much at home in Comedy as in Tragedy' (QM 10 Ag).
Responding to the warmth of the critical appreciation they were receiving, the Kembles gave their most famous play, Romeo and Juliet, on 10 August, for the first and last time in Canada. The commentator of the Quebec Mercury (13 Ag) knew that the Mercutio of Charles Kemble had been 'generally considered a masterpiece of acting in its line.' Kemble used an acting version which enlarged and heightened Mercutio's role, and he added to the traditional business of the part 'a beautifully natural touch':
After Mercutio has received his death wound from Tybalt, the high courage he preserves although he perceives his desperate situation, was perfectly in character. One beautifully natural touch we observed among many others. When he addresses Romeo -'Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm' on the answer 'I thought all for the best,' his manner of taking Romeo's hand was so expressive of cordial forgiveness of the injury he had unintentionally occasioned, that it spoke more than words could convey.
Fanny Kemble had enjoyed an international
reputation from the time of her 1829 stage debut at Covent Garden where
in her father's production she played Juliet to his Mercutio. The reviewer
of the Quebec Mercury (13 Ag) valued particularly the appropriateness
of her youth for the role of the love-struck Capulet: 'In the interview
with Romeo when she is on the balcony nothing could be more playfully natural
than her manner of speaking to her lover; and her byplay in running of
her fingers along the guard of the balcony did not escape the notice of
observant critics.' Miss Kemble conveyed fully the terrors of Juliet's
situation in the tomb:
The picture of the horrors of the tomb to which Juliet fears to be exposed should she take the sleeping draught Friar Lawrence has instructed her to use was painfully beautiful; the great point after the passage in which the fear of becoming distracted is expressed has been generally made in the lines,
And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone
As with a club dash out my desperate brains?
Miss Kemble reserved herself for the end of the speech, and her frantic rush to the front of the stage in uttering the concluding lines, produced a much more powerful effect than the way it is usually acted.
Finally, 'in the death of Romeo we
noticed a mode different from what we have before seen, the effect of which
was very beautiful: when growing faint from the effects of the poison he
falls in Juliet's arms and she still retains her hold till unable to sustain
his weight she sinks with him on the ground' (QM 13 Ag).
For her benefit on 12 August, Fanny Kemble appeared in the role of Mrs. Beverly in The Gamester, in which her 'distress at her husband's repeated absence, indignation at Stukely's villainy, and her silent grief in the final scene, were all most perfectly acted' (QM 13 Ag).
The critic of the Quebec Mercury again displayed his familiarity with the Kemble technique in acting when he commented on the 14 August performance of The Stranger:
To ourselves the play had a peculiar charm; we remember its production and recollect the late J. P. Kemble and Mrs. Siddons in the two principal characters. After a lapse of so many years we cannot pretend to draw a close comparison, but so far as our recollection serves, and our memory is retentive on these subjects, the effect produced on the audience by those great Tragedians was not deeper than that which was last night felt in witnessing the acting of Mr. and Miss Kemble.
This critic noted a distinctive feature of the Kembles in the final
scene of reconciliation (QM 15 Ag):
The final scene is we observe managed differently by Mr. and Miss Kemble from the conclusion as originally acted - instead of receiving Mrs. Haller in his arms in token of reconciliation, the Stranger stood, as if hesitating, whilst his countenance betrayed the mental conflict he sustained and Mrs. Haller threw herself at his feet. The curtain fell whilst they were in this situation so that the deep contrition of the wife was only seen by the audience, and the forgiveness of the husband was left in doubt.
A second Shakespearian treat was savoured by the Quebec City patrons
on 16 August when the Kembles presented their popular Much Ado About
Nothing for the benefit of Charles Kemble. Unfortunately, the evening
ended in a mishap for the touring actor:
We regret to add that Mr. Charles Kemble received a very severe accident, which might have proved of the most serious consequence. In passing from one side of the stage to the other behind the scenes, he had to go close to the back flat, where there are two gratings in the floor to allow the hot air to pass from two stoves placed beneath them for the purpose of warming that part of the Theatre. The space in the grating left for the stove pipe had not been covered, and Mr. Kemble passing hastily along, stepped into it, by which the skin from mid leg to his knee was much lacerated, and he narrowly escaped breaking the leg. He however went through the remainder of the play, though enduring much suffering, and on the falling of the curtain was attended by Dr. Skey, who dressed the wound before Mr. Kemble left the Theatre.
The Kembles completed their Quebec
City visit on 17 August with The Hunchback ' a benefit for
Vincent DeCamp, without whose efforts the Canadian tour would not have
happened. In Julia, Miss Kemble 'appeared to the greatest advantage - her
conception of the character, which had been studied for the production
of the piece, appears to have been formed after mature consideration and
with the determination of producing a finished picture which would establish
her claim to the first rank in the profession.' The reviewer also praised
Fanny for her stress on wholeness: 'Her acting is of that school which
pays attention to the whole piece, not content with making a few strong
touches or eliciting a bright spark here and there, she treats a character
as a skillful painter would a picture, and finishes it so that all parts
shall bear examination, yet far from permitting the polish to destroy,
she makes it rather add to the vigour of the composition.' This play 'was
decidedly the best acted of any which during his short visit Mr. DeCamp
has presented to the public' (QM 20 Ag).
Upon their return to Montreal, on 20 August, the Kembles substituted Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice for Romeo and Juliet: 'The circumstance which rendered this necessary is, we are sure, deeply regretted by all, we mean the painful effect of the accident which happened to Mr. Charles Kemble at Quebec, which effect was, we are sorry to say, plainly visible to the public eye' (MA 21 Ag). Most people, according to the Advertiser, 'were extremely anxious to witness the performance of Romeo and Juliet, not more on account of the well known skill of both Mr. and Miss Kemble in their respective parts, than for the high expectations raised by the remarks of the Quebec Mercury, whose experienced judgment in Theatrical matters is well known.'Though labouring under constant pain, Charles Kemble in the role of Shylock,
played with his usual discrimination - some of his scenes were marked by originality of thought, especially that with Antonio, when the conditions of the bond were agreed to; the scenes too with Tubal must have pleased even the most fastidious. The sudden changes from grief, combined with rage at his daughter's treachery, to exultation at Antonio's losses, and back again, were exhibited with great force.
Fanny Kemble acted Portia 'in a most
natural and easy' style in the opening scene, but 'in the next scene we
thought she was labouring under fatigue or indisposition - we trust merely
the former - in other respects she left but little to desire' (MA
21 Ag).
With a fine sense of the dramatic history they had witnessed, the Montreal papers commented on the final performance of the Kemble tour on 21 August: 'Last night, the end, we regret to say, of Mr. and Miss Kemble's engagements in Canada, brought these distinguished performers before us in Sheridan Knowles' popular play of the Hunchback, supported by a phalanx of talent, such as we seldom have seen united in one corps dramatique' (MG 22 Ag). Charles Kemble, in Thomas Clifford, 'realized our utmost expectations,' and Miss Kemble in Julia 'displayed all those peculiar accomplishments which render her unrivalled in her profession' (MG 22 Ag). This performance surpassed the earlier one on account of the cohesiveness of its ensemble acting: 'The truth is, the whole play worked better, and Miss Kemble's attention was less frequently drawn from the consideration of her own character. We never witnessed a more beautiful piece of performance' (MA 23 Ag).
The last night on 21 August 1833 in Montreal did mark the climax for that 'phalanx of talent' gathered in the northern city by ties of affection, family genius and theatrical tradition. Less than a year later, in April 1834, Aunt Dall would be dead of the result of injuries suffered when the coach overturned on their trip to Niagara Falls.12 Overcome by her aunt's death and having decided to marry Pierce Butler in June of 1834, Fanny Kemble left the stage after only five years on the professional circuit. Charles Kemble never returned to North America. And, Maria Theresa Kemble, Sophia DeCamp Brown, and Vincent DeCamp, all died in the next decade. For a few golden weeks in that summer of 1833 the Kemble tradition was paraded at its finest before an appreciative Canadian audience.
One Canadian commentator differentiated between father and daughter in a perceptive way. Mrs. L. Gosselin, editor of the Montreal Museum (Ag p. 575) complained about Charles Kemble's choice of roles:
During Mr. Kemble's visit to this city, for some reason or other unknown to the public, he inevitably performed, except on one night, what are comparatively insignificant parts, and although no fault could be found in his acting, the impression generally left on the minds of the audience, was that of a gentleman of taste and talent, who could not fail in any thing he undertook to do.
On the other hand, Gosselin recognized
the extraordinary intellectual force of Fanny Kemble's presence on the
Canadian stage. Critics on both sides of the border agreed that Fanny brought
'a quality of feminine acting which had not been seen there before.' 13
Besides raising the level of female acting, she set a new standard for
women to aspire to. Gosselin (MM Jl p. 516) summed up her influence
on her Canadian sisters:
Her success in each [female character] has been complete, and the ladies of M.[ontreal] must ever remember with pride and gratitude the proofs she has given how high a woman's mind can soar, and were we to question many who have witnessed her performance on the cause of the abundance of tears shed by them, not a few would answer: exultation.
While Canadians had gained from exposure
to the young actress a fresh impetus for theatrical performance, Fanny
Kemble did not receive an equal stimulus from the actors or the cities.
Except for the financially significant phrase 'Our houses were good,' when
writing to Charles Mathews on 21 December 1834 about the wisdom of touring
Canada, she characterized in negative terms the resources of her uncle
Vincent DeCamp: 'of all the horrible strolling concerns I ever could imagine,
his company, and scenery, and gettings up, were the worst.'Although Fanny
Kemble 'would not have to complain of want of hospitality, either in Montreal
or Quebec, the unspeakable dirt and discomfort of the inns, the misery
of the accommodations, the scarcity of eatables, and the abundance of eaters,
(fleas, bugs, &c.) together with the wicked dislocating road from St.
John's to La Prairie, would, I fear, make up a sum of suffering, for which
it would be difficult, in my opinion, to find an adequate compensation.'
14
Notes
FANNY KEMBLE AND CHARLES KEMBLE: AS CANADIANS SAW THEM IN 1833
Yashdip Singh Bains and Norma Jenckes
1 DOROTHY MARSHALL, Fanny
Kemble New York: St. Martin's Press, 1978, p 69
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2 HENRY GIBBS, Affectionately
Yours Fanny London: Jarrold, 1947, p 127; ROBERT RUSHMORE, Fanny
Kemble New York: Crowell-Collier, 1973, p 101; MARSHALL, p 94; J. C.
FURNAS, Fanny Kemble: Leading Lady of the Nineteenth Century Stage New
York: Dial Press, 1982, p 130
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3 Quoted in FANNY KEMBLE
WISTER, ed., Fanny, the American Kemble: Her Journals and Unpublished
Letters Tallahassee: South Pass Press, 1972, pp 136-37
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4 For a biographical note
on Vincent DeCamp (1777-1839), see FRANKLIN GRAHAM,
Histrionic Montreal
1902; reprinted New York & London: Benjamin Blom, 1969, pp 53-54
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5 For biographical notes
on Frederick Brown, see T. ALLSTON BROWN, History of the American Stage
New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1870, 53; GRAHAM, pp 41-43
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6 For a biographical note
on John Mason, see ALLSTON BROWN, p 237
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7 For an outline of the
Kembles trip to Niagara Falls and Canada, see MARGARET ARMSTRONG, Fanny
Kemble: A Passionate Victorian New York: Macmillan, 1938
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8 MARSHALL, pp 87-89
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9 Abbreviations of 1833
newspapers cited: MA Montreal Daily Advertiser, MC Montreal Canadian
Courant, MG Montreal Gazette, MH Montreal Herald, MM Montreal Museum, MV
Montreal Vindicator, QM Quebec Mercury
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10 MRS. MATHEWS, Memoirs
of Charles Mathews, Comedian, IV London: Richard Bentley, 1839, p 320
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11 FANNY KEMBLE, Records
of a Girlhood, 2nd, edition New York: Henry Holt, 1879, pp 585-86
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12 For an account of this
accident in which Aunt Dall received head injuries, see ARMSTRONG, p 176
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13 GIBBS, p 181
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14 MATHEWS, IV, 320
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