by Jean Plaidy
‘They wouldn’t be able to stand out long against you,’ said Grace. ‘You’d soon have them laughing their heads off.’
‘Not in Edinburgh,’ replied Dorothy glumly.
She had an increasingly large family to support. There was now little Dodee, and George was getting only the smallest walk-on parts; Hester was home most of the time taking care of the children and Richard’s income was not large. She could not view a long rest from the theatre with any complacence – much as she would have liked to have more time for her family.
An unusual piece of good luck occurred then. The King, whose illness had given rise to so much gossip, recovered and the Queen decided that it would be an excellent idea for him to recuperate somewhere right away from London and his royal duties. Brighton would have been ideal, but the Prince of Wales had made that delightful town his own, and relations between the royal parents and their son were strained, so definitely it could not be Brighton.
Cheltenham was little known but it was recommended to the Queen as a very healthful spa where the waters were most beneficial, so she decided that she, the King, the Princesses and their suites should spend a few weeks there while they nursed the King back to health.
Cheltenham for the first time in its life was on the map. There happened to be a theatre in the town, and since there was to be a royal visit that meant that the place would be full not only of the royal entourage but of many visitors.
A full town needed good players in its theatre.
Mrs Siddons was going to Edinburgh; clearly Mrs Jordan must come to Cheltenham.
Cheltenham was pleasant although Dorothy always preferred London audiences to those of the provinces. At this time, though, the town had three times its usual population and it was said that if royalty made a habit of visiting it, it would soon resemble Brighton. She heard that sixty-seven hairdressers had followed the King and Queen to the town because where the Court was there was the ton; and constant hairdressing was essential to the fashionable world.
The theatre was a converted barn but a royal box had been erected, all sorts of comforts added and the inhabitants were all prepared to enjoy the amenities induced by elegant society.
They even had Mrs Jordan.
She was greeted wherever she went with great enthusiasm. People stopped her in the streets and told her how much they were looking forward to seeing her act and how amused they were that they had filched her from London.
The manager told her that he thought it wise for her not to play breeches parts before their Majesties.
‘This is not for His Highness the Prince of Wales, Mrs Jordan,’ he said. ‘His Majesty believes in stern propriety so these are the plays in which I think it would be wise for you to appear.’
Dorothy looked at them: The Country Girl, The Maid of the Oaks, The Sultan, The Poor Soldier and The Virgin Unmasked.
She would have enjoyed playing Sir Harry Wildair.
‘You should have had Mrs Siddons,’ she told him.
‘Oh, no. Her Majesty the Queen thinks that a little light entertainment would be better for His Majesty. If you can amuse him, Mrs Jordan, you will please Her Majesty.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ said Dorothy. ‘But I’m sure a breeches part would have been more likely to.’
But the manager did not agree.
It was not until Dorothy arrived in Cheltenham that the King and Queen honoured the playhouse with their presence and from their royal box they looked down with approval at the actors, and Dorothy had the satisfaction of hearing the King laugh at her antics.
This pleased the Queen and when Dorothy made her final bow they expressed their pleasure by inclining their heads for her alone.
It was not the gracious acknowledgement she had had from the Prince of Wales, but this was the King and his bulbous eyes which still looked a little wild were kindly, and so was his smile.
‘Very good,’ Dorothy heard him say. ‘A pleasant little actress, eh, what?’
And the Queen replied that Mrs Jordan’s performance had given her great pleasure.
That was triumph and Dorothy was delighted to have contributed to the King’s pleasure.
The people of Cheltenham were pleased too. The famous London actress had brought a change to their town. They were grateful to her and almost as pleased that she was with them as they were to have royal visitors.
All the same she was glad when the time came to return to London.
She came back to change.
Dr Ford – who should have been her father-in-law – had made his decision to retire and leave London. He had bought a house in Wales and since he would be far from the metropolis he had no further interest in the theatre. He was therefore going to sell his share in Drury Lane.
For some time there had been a certain amount of friction between Sheridan and Tom King; they could not agree on policy and their tastes differed widely. Sheridan had done his best to curtail King’s power and at the same time had himself shown a greater interest in affairs outside the theatre. This was understandable in view of the King’s illness and what had seemed a few months earlier a certain Regency. But King resented Sheridan’s attitude. If he wanted to be a politician and a man about town he insisted he should give up his theatrical commitments.
When he knew that Dr Ford wanted to sell out, King had hoped to buy his shares and thus gain a stronger influence at the theatre; unfortunately in attempting to raise money for this he gambled and lost heavily so that he was worse off than he had been in the first place. He went to see Dr Ford and told him that although he could not produce cash he had some securities and if Dr Ford would accept these he was eager to buy.
King’s hope was that the ever impecunious Sheridan would certainly not be able to raise the necessary capital, but he had reckoned without Sheridan’s friends. The Duke of Norfolk came to the rescue and lent Sheridan the necessary cash with the result that, with his father-in-law Thomas Linley, he became the proprietor of Drury Lane, and as Linley had nothing but a monetary interest this gave Sheridan complete control.
King declared his intention to leave and go to Dublin and work there. He had had enough of Sheridan and Drury Lane.
This was the state of affairs when Dorothy returned from Cheltenham.
It did not greatly perturb her that King was going. He had been fair to her but she knew that he, being an old man, did not care for her style of acting. He did not see comedy as the romp she made of it. He believed it should be more refined; and for that reason he had never held the high opinion of her that Sheridan had held, while at the same time, as manager, he must respect her ability to fill the theatre.
It was when King’s successor was appointed that she began to feel uneasy. For Sheridan had chosen none other than John Kemble to act as manager; and Kemble, as the brother of Sarah Siddons, could scarcely be a partisan of Dorothy Jordan.
No sooner had Kemble taken over than trouble began. He made it clear that in his opinion the greatest draw at Drury Lane was Sarah Siddons and every other actress must be subordinate to her.
Sarah immediately suggested that her salary was not enough and Kemble arranged to pay her thirty pounds for each performance. This meant that if she only played once a fortnight she would be more highly paid than Dorothy who might be playing every night, for she was still getting only her twelve pounds a week.
This rankled and Dorothy had made up her mind not to accept it.
Since the birth of Dodee she had suffered from minor indispositions and there had been occasions when she had found it impossible to appear. Kemble always made the most of this and set a rumour about that Mrs Jordan was becoming so autocratic that she would only appear when she felt in the mood to do so and made the excuse of illness.
This was accepted by the public who had been disappointed once or twice, hoping to see Mrs Jordan and being fobbed off with some lesser light.
Kemble was determined to show Dorothy in what little esteem he held her and that although he was prepared
to accept that she had a certain following he regarded her as in no way the equal of his great sister.
One night when she was playing, her brother George went behind the scenes and Kemble, finding him there, demanded to know what he was doing. Was he playing? George was not. Then what right had he to go behind the scenes while the play was in progress?
‘You’ve forgotten my sister Mrs Jordan is playing.’
‘I had not forgotten and that does not give you a right to be there. You are fined five shillings.’
Kemble strode off and George was discomfited to hear the titters of Sarah’s adherents. The incident would be talked of in the Green Room that night and be all over Town by tomorrow. It was an insult to Dorothy. It was hinting that she was of no more importance than the humblest player, and her friends and family had no right to be anywhere but in the front of the stage and in a seat for which they had paid.
Dorothy paid the five shillings but the matter became an issue in the press which was forming itself into factions for and against one or the other side in the Jordan–Kemble dispute, and it was becoming quite clear to Dorothy that she would have to make a stand or leave Drury Lane. Harris of Covent Garden, who had done his best to denigrate her, would doubtless change his tune if she showed her willingness to work for him; but she had no desire to do so. She could not forget the insults he had flung at her and was certainly not going to forgive him for the sake of expediency if she could help it.
She could of course appeal to Sheridan who was her partisan, but he was so little in the theatre and so completely absorbed with his own affairs and his grand friends – and it must be admitted very often a little bemused by too much wine and spirits.
She would fight her own battles. And they were arising on all sides. Most important was her relationship with Richard, who was so content in their present circumstances he made no effort to change them. His father had retired from the theatre to his comfortable country establishment with a fortune – so rumour had it – of £100,000, and surely now was the time to tell him of their desire to marry.
‘No,’ cried Richard vehemently. ‘He’d be so incensed he would cut me right out of his will.’
‘Let him.’
‘My dearest, do you understand what this would mean? He would cut off my allowance and what I get from my briefs wouldn’t go far.’
‘You must get more briefs and I must get a higher salary. I’m a bigger draw than Siddons. I’ll not endure this much longer.’
Richard tried to evade the question at issue by going on at length about the injustice Dorothy suffered at the theatre, but she would not allow this.
‘It’s true,’ she said, ‘and I shall not endure it much longer. But there is no reason why we shouldn’t marry. The Kemble set are starting rumours about the immoral life I lead and that might harm me with audiences.’
‘Not a bit of it. They like their idols to have a bit of excitement in their lives.’
‘You call this exciting! I have all the responsibilities of marriage without the standing that goes with it.’
‘I’ve been happy. I couldn’t have been happier.’
‘I could have been… if I had been married.’
‘My poor darling, as soon as the old man agrees…’
‘Which he never will.’
‘He can’t live for ever, Dorothy. Then I shall have all his money… providing I don’t displease him in the meantime.’
‘To hell with his money,’ cried Dorothy. ‘We’d manage.’
Richard shook his head. She looked at him and tried to see him afresh – not as the man she had loved and still did love, though in a different way from that in which she had at first. She saw him now in all his weaknesses. Weak! that was the word that best described Richard. He was weak – content for her to be humiliated; content for her to provide the bulk of their income – anything rather than that he should face an irate parent and possibly incur the loss of his father’s money.
She was nervous and touchy and she gave way to her disappointment in him, her anger against circumstances. She had to fight her way through life and the man she had chosen to stand beside her was a weakling.
There were tears and reconciliations, but that did not alter her opinion of him.
‘It’s these Kembles,’ she said. ‘They’re determined to plague me.’
‘They can’t harm you,’ he soothed. ‘It’s you the people come to see. You’re twice as popular as Siddons.’
‘It’s true,’ she admitted. ‘But they feel they ought to like Siddons and there are many people who will insist they like what they ought to like. To weep and moan is somehow intellectual; to laugh is vulgar. They’ve got this fixed in their silly heads and Kemble and his crowd are going to see that it sticks there.’
‘We’ll fight it, Dorothy,’ he said, stroking her hair.
He’d fight it! she thought. When had he ever fought for anything? Even in his own profession he couldn’t make his mark.
But she did not want friction; she was still deluding herself that one day they would marry.
‘And I’m worried about Mamma,’ she said. ‘She hasn’t looked well lately.’
Yes, that was a period of great uneasiness.
Dorothy decided that she could no longer accept the position into which Kemble was thrusting her when it was suggested that she appear in The Romp on the same evening as Mrs Siddons played in Macbeth.
Dorothy laughed aloud when she heard.
‘I understand,’ she cried. ‘The people come to see me and it will be said that they have come for Mrs Siddons. Oh, no, no. She’ll play one night and I’ll play on another – but I’ll not draw the people in for her to get the praise for doing it.’
‘You over-estimate yourself,’ said Kemble.
‘Then it’ll make up a little for your under-estimation.’
‘So you refuse to play in The Romp.’
‘On the same night as your sister plays her tragedy, yes.’
‘What is it going to be this time – indisposition?’
‘By no means. It’s simply that I won’t be the draw for her to get the praise… and the money.’
The last word was ominous but Kemble shrugged his shoulders and turned away.
The next day a paragraph appeared in the Morning Post which ran:
‘Mrs Jordan and Kemble, according to Green Room reports, are not on the most amicable footing. It is supposed that the lady takes advantage of her popularity to be ill when she pleases and has refused to perform in a farce when Mrs Siddons performs in a play and for this modest reason “that she will not fill the house and let Mrs Siddons run away with the reputation of it”. If this be true it is proper to tell this lady that this higher province of the drama will prevail when dowdies and hoydens are forgotten or despised.’
When Dorothy read this she had no alternative but to see Sheridan, and as soon as she had an opportunity she presented herself to him.
He was a little absent-minded. His thoughts were outside the theatre. The Prince of Wales was now relegated to a position without great influence; and although he continued in affection for his dear Sherry, there was no great political advantage on the horizon. Sheridan’s dreams had been too rosy; he had thought longingly of the Great Seal; and he knew that there came a moment in a man’s life when it was possible to seize the coveted prize and that if that moment passed without bringing the reward it might never come again. The King could not last for ever; the Prince must come to the throne; but where would Sheridan be then?
It was a sobering thought.
And here was Dorothy Jordan – dissatisfied, as all actresses always were. Not getting her dues. When did they ever believe they were? She was not being treated fairly. Was it not the perpetual cry?
‘I won’t endure it,’ she was saying. ‘Kemble is a fool. I know Sarah Siddons is his sister and a little bias is natural, but in his efforts to ruin me he’s ruining the theatre. He’s going to turn away people to Covent Garden if he’s not
careful.’
‘Eh!’ cried Sheridan, coming out of his reverie at the mention of his rivals. Whatever his dreams of grandeur he had to face reality now and then – and the theatre was his reality. So were the bills which came every day with wearisome regularity. He had his debt to Norfolk. He had to make the theatre pay. And one of the people he depended on in this was this little actress.
Quarrels between manager and performer were common. He’d had them himself although less than most. He was adept at flattery and thought how skilfully he’d handled the troublesome Perdita Robinson. But Dorothy was not like her. She had a real grievance.
‘You saw the paragraph in the Morning Post? “The drama will prevail when dowdies and hoydens are forgotten.” What a fool your manager is. He’s decrying the stuff he is trying to sell.’
‘You think he’s responsible for this!’
‘I know he is.’
‘You have disappointed the public on several occasions.’
‘Only when I was too ill to appear. Would you have me go on and collapse on the stage?’
‘It might not have been bad publicity. And you’ve refused to play the same night as Siddons.’
‘I certainly have. I am not going to bring them in and let her get the credit for it. What! At her thirty pounds a performance against my twelve pounds a week.’
‘Ah, money. It all comes back to money. The love of money is the root of all evil, my dear.’
‘You should tell Sarah that. There’s no doubt she loves it dearly.’
‘And you?’
‘I love it to the extent of thirty pounds a week. That is what I want and that is what I intend to have. If not…’
‘If not?’
‘I’ll say good-bye to Drury Lane.’
Sheridan looked at her obliquely. Did it mean an offer from the Garden? Kemble was a fool! They couldn’t afford to let Dorothy Jordan go. True, his sister had a reputation. The greatest actress of the day and that was generally accepted as a fact. But it did not mean that although the public liked to talk of the Divine Sarah they didn’t prefer to laugh with Dorothy Jordan.