Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years. [In mainpiece the playbill does not list the Child; for the assignment see Morning Post, 10 Oct., and edition of 1787 (Rachael Randall).] "[Mrs Siddons's] merit in the character was infinite, and the applause she received unbounded. In various of her scenes the plaudits were repeated . . . During the fourth and fifth acts there was almost an incessant clapping, and when Isabella expired her death was rendered glorious by the theatre's resounding with thundering applause for more than a minute" (Morning Chronicle, 11 Oct.). "L'actrice la plus noble dans ses manieres, madame Siddons, ne perd rien de sa dignite quand elle se prosterne contre terre . . . Enfin, il arriva ce moment terrible ou Isabelle, s'etant echappee des mains des femmes qui veulent l'empechcr de se tuer, rit, en se donnant un coup de poignard, de l'inutilite de leurs efforts. Ce rire du desespoir est l'effet le plus difficile et le plus remarquable que le jeu dramatique puisse produire; il emeut bien plus que les larmes: cette amere ironie du malheur est son expression la plus dechirante. Qu'elle est terrible la souffrance du coeur, quand elle inspire une si barbare joie, quand elle donne, a l'aspect de son propre sang, le contentement feroce d'un sauvage ennemi qui se serait venge!" (Mme de Stael: Corinne, livre XVII, chapitre iv). Receipts: #181 11s. (147/0; 34/6; 0/5)
Performances
Mainpiece Title: Isabella; Or, The Fatal Marriage
Performance Comment: Biron-Smith; Count Baldwin-Packer; Carlos-Farren; Belford-R. Palmer; Child-Master Siddons; Sampson-Wrighten; Villeroy-Palmer; Nurse-Mrs Love; Isabella-Mrs Siddons (from the Theatre Royal, Bath) .Afterpiece Title: A Trip to Scotland
Dance: Afterpiece: With a Postilion Dance incident to the Piece. [This was danced in all subsequent performances.]
Song: In Act III of mainpiece an Epithalamium, with singing by Miss Collett and Miss Wright. [This was sung, as here assigned, at all subsequent performances, except on 6 Nov. 1782, 15 Mar., 6 May, 5 June 1783.]