Culture Corner

1. Do you know anything about the actresses of the past mentioned by the characters of the novel?

Sarah Kemble, later known as Sarah Siddons, was born on July 5, 1775 at The Shoulder of Mutton Public House in Brecknockshire, Wales. Her parents led a group of traveling actors. The Kemble family became the progenitors of a family of actors. The critics called her phenomenal and she reigned supreme as the Queen of Drury Lane. Sarah had many roles that she became known for, the majority of them tragedies. The audience loved her and she would be forever known from that point on as the Queen of Tragedy.

George Bernard Shaw gallantly declared that 'every famous man of the 19th century- provided he were a playgoer- has been in love with Ellen Terry.' Ellen was born in 1847 in Coventry, Warwickshire, 'Shakespeare's own county' as she happily recalled in her 1908 memoirs. Adored by both the public and her colleagues alike Terry was a woman of great charm and generosity who also possessed a fiercely independent spirit allied to a resolute capacity for hard work. Ellen continued to act until 1925. She died on 21 July 1928 aged 81.

Do some research on one of the actresses and present it to the class.

Eleanora Duse

AKA Eleonora Guilia Amalia Duse

Born: 3-Oct-1858 Birthplace: Vigevano, Italy Died: 21-Apr-1924 Location of death: Pittsburgh, PA Cause of death: unspecified Remains: Buried, Asolo Cemetery, Treviso, Italy

Gender: Female Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Actor

Nationality: Italy Executive summary: Most famous Italian actress of her time

Italian actress, born at Vigevano of a family of actors, and made her first stage appearance at a very early age. The hardships incident to touring with travelling companies unfavorably affected her health, but by 1885 she was recognized at home as Italy's greatest actress, and this verdict was confirmed by that of all the leading cities of Europe and America. In 1893 she made her first appearances in New York and in London. For some years she was closely associated with the romanticist Gabriele D'Annunzio, and several of his plays, notably La Cittа morta (1898) and Francesca da Rimini (1901), provided her with important parts. But some of her great successes during the 1880s and early 1890s -- the days of her chief triumphs -- were in Italian versions of such plays as La Dame aux camйlias, in which Sarah Bernhardt was already famous; and Madame Duse's reputation as an actress was founded less on her creations than on her magnificent individuality. In contrast to the great French actress she avoided all make-up; her art depended on intense naturalness rather than stage effect, sympathetic force and poignant intellectuality rather than the theatrical emotionalism of the French tradition. Her dramatic genius gave a new reading to the parts, and during these years the admirers of the two leading actresses of Europe practically constituted two rival schools of appreciation. Ill-health kept Madame Duse off the stage for some time; but though, after 1900, it was no longer possible for her to avoid make-up, her rank among the great actresses of history remained indisputable.

Boyfriend: Gabriele D'Annunzio (poet) Husband: Tebaldo Checchi

Is the subject of books: The Life of Eleonora Duse, 1930, BY: E. A. Rheinhardt  Duse, 1984, BY: William Weaver 

2. To get more information about the famous London museums and galleries such as the National gallery, the Tate, the British Museum use these links. Present the information to the class.

London Museums

The British compulsion to collect artifacts means that Britain has the best museums in the world - we had a whole empire to plunder. Below is a shortlist of things that our guides and surveys of visitors rate the highest, but whatever your interest, from 17th Century fans, to fan engines, there's a museum specifically catering to your taste. And virtually all of them are free.... An extremely thorough government-funded guide to museums (albeit with the sole intention of tempting you inside) is HERE. It paints everything a bit rosier than it really is - many of the museums mentioned aren't really worth visiting, but you'd never find out from the website.  Commercial tourist attractions such as Madame Tussauds and The London Dungeon are on our Attractions page