Ellen
Terry (1849-1928) had many legendary partnerships with Henry Irving, with
one of the most successful being her Portia to his Shylock in The Merchant
of Venice. She first played Portia opposite Irving in 1879 in one of their
earliest teamings at the Lyceum Theatre, with the production being such an overwhelming
success that it ran an unbelievable 250 consecutive performances, by far the
longest continuous run of the play in history. She returned to it many times
in her career, having another triumph in New York in 1883 and made her farewell
to the Lyceum in the role in 1902. Portia clearly had a special place in the
great Terry's heart, as she made her final appearance with Irving in a special
all-star benefit performance of The Merchant of Venice at Drury Lane
in aid of the Actors' Benevolent Trust in 1903. William Winter wrote "The
stage Portias of the past has usually been a didactic lady, self-contained,
formal, conventional, and oratorical. Ellen Terry came, and Portia was figured
exactly as she lives in the pages of Shakespeare - an imperial and yet an enchanting
woman, dazzling in her beauty, royal in her dignity, as ardent in temperament
as she is fine in brain and various and splendid in personal peculiarities and
feminine charm." Close Window
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