Mrs. Siddons in Imogen.

Summary

"Mrs. Siddons representing Imogen.--However interesting the situation may be, our taste must ever censure the appearance of women in breeches--which of late has been rendered a means of attracting an audience to a benefit.  Playing the character of a man cannot bear an excuse; it is disgusting, and militates with every principle of female delicacy; and even, as in the situation before us, the assuming man's apparel as a means of disguise, though it may be sanctioned by necessity in real life, is contrary to decency as a public exhibition." [Note comment on "real life" and necessity as a permissible motive.] "Vanity we cannot impute ot Mrs. Siddons, in her adoption of Imogen.  Her dignity and grace fell with her coats, and when she lost the appearance of her sex, she lost considerably of her consequence in the opinion of every discriminating mind, and of her influence over every heart of sensibility."  "The powers of Mrs. Siddons are in her voice and visage; her figure wants symmetry, and her dress, like that which she wore in Rosalind, being evidently contrived to aid its deficiencies, and to affect delicacy, only tended to heighten the caricature."

Full Title

30 Jan 1787. Mrs. Siddons in Imogen. Times p. 3 c. B.

Publication

Full Record

Date

30 January 1787

Provisional Category

Breeches Actor

Cross-dressing occupation

Actor

Locations

LondonView on map

Primary source topic

Theatre; Dressed as a man

Item format

Theatre review

Motive

Livelihood

Attire

Breeches part

Gender Manifestation

"female delicacy"; "affect delicacy"; "grace"; "her figure wants symmetry"

Sex Perceived by Recorder

Female

Venue

Drury Lane Theatre

Report Scope

Central

Notable Statement

"the assuming man's apparel as a means of disguise . . . may be sanctioned by neccessity in real life"

People Mentioned in This Record

• Siddons(Subject of study)Mentions