Elizabeth Polack | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Melodrama |
| Years active | 1830—1838 |
| Notable work | Esther, the Royal Jewess (1835); St. Clair of the Isles (1838) |
| Relatives | Maria Polack |
 Literatureportal | |
Elizabeth Polack was an English playwright of the 1830s, notable for being the first Jewish woman melodramatist in England. [1]
Few historical records survive which detail Elizabeth Polack's life. Although neither the year nor place of her birth, nor her death, are now known, evidence of her activity as a playwright in London between 1830 and 1838 remains. Contemporary records credit her with five plays, only two of which, Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman and St. Clair of the Isles; or The Outlaw of Barra , have survived. Alberti; or the Mines of Idria was performed at the Royal Pavilion on 10 May 1834 is believed to be by Polack. At the time, this play was incorrectly advertised as Alberti, or, the Mines of India in some publications. [2] Esther, with a story taken from the Old Testament, a version of the tradtitonal Jewish Purimshpil and considered in its time to be a type of an "Exotic East" melodrama, was successfully produced in 1835 at London's Royal Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel in the East End [3] (the Pavilion was later a centre for Yiddish theatre in London). [4] Her St. Clair, however, based on an 1803 novel by Elizabeth Helme, met, when it debuted at the [Royal] Victoria Theatre in 1838, [5] with a modest reception. It is apparently the source of the melodramatic cliché, "Foiled again!" [3]
Polack's presumed aunt (or perhaps mother), Maria Polack, was one of the first Anglo-Jewish novelists. [1] Polack may have also been related to Joel Samuel Polack, author of two well-received travel books about New Zealand. Joel's biographer writes that he lived with his sister in Piccadilly when he first returned to England; that sister may have been Elizabeth. [6] Such a family background would have offered support to her writing career, even from her position within a marginalized community. [1]
The Book of Esther, also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll", is a book in the third section of the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Jewish woman in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people.
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. The story the book tells is as follows: Ahasuerus, the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, falls in love with the beautiful Jewish woman Esther and makes her his Queen. His grand vizier, Haman, is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian, Mordecai, who refuses to prostrate himself before Haman. Haman plots to have all the Jews in Persia killed, and convinces Ahasuerus to permit him to do so. However, Esther foils the plan by revealing Haman's eradication plans to Ahasuerus, who then has Haman executed and grants permission to the Jews to kill their enemies.
Purim is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther.
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or excessively sentimental, rather than action. Characters are often flat, and written to fulfill stereotypes. Melodramas are typically set in the private sphere of the home, focusing on morality and family issues, love, and marriage, often with challenges from an outside source, such as a "temptress", a scoundrel, or an aristocratic villain. A melodrama on stage, filmed, or on television is usually accompanied by dramatic and suggestive music that offers cues to the audience of the drama being presented.
Mary Russell Mitford was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for Our Village, a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characters based upon her life in Three Mile Cross near Reading in Berkshire.
Thomas Souness Hamblin was an English actor and theatre manager. He first took the stage in England, then immigrated to the United States in 1825. He received critical acclaim there, and eventually entered theatre management. During his tenure at New York City's Bowery Theatre he helped establish working-class theatre as a distinct form. His policies preferred American actors and playwrights to British ones, making him an important influence in the development of early American drama.
Jane Marie Scott (1779–1839) was a British theatre manager, performer, and playwright.
Elizabeth Helme was a prolific English novelist, educational writer, and translator active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Esther was the chief character in the Book of Esther. She is counted among the prophetesses of Israel. Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical story of Esther contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond the text presented in the book of the Bible.
Edward James Loder was an English composer and conductor. His best remembered work is perhaps the 1855 opera Raymond and Agnes, though his most successful opera during his lifetime was The Night Dancers.
One Night with the King is a 2006 American religious epic film produced by Matt Crouch and Laurie Crouch of Gener8Xion Entertainment, directed by Michael O. Sajbel, and starring Peter O'Toole, Tiffany Dupont, John Rhys-Davies, and Luke Goss.
Ching Lau Lauro and Professor Ching were the stage names of a juggler and magician who performed outdoors and in theatres in London and the provinces. His real name is unknown; he was possibly Cornish and he was popularly known as Ching. He was the first magician in Europe to perform the aerial suspension illusion, and possibly the first to use limelight, and one of the earliest Western magicians to perform in Chinese costume. In 1834 he played at The Theatre, Leeds.
Alexis Decomberousse, full name Alexis Barbe Benoît Decomberousse, was a 19th-century French playwright and vaudevillist.
The Pavilion Theatre at 191–193 Whitechapel Road, London, was the first major theatre to open in London's East End. It was destroyed by fire in 1856 and rebuilt as the New Royal Pavilion Theatre, which operated until 1935.
Maria Polack was an English Jewish novelist and educator. Her father, Ephraim Polack, was a prominent member of the Great Synagogue of London, and her niece, Elizabeth Polack, was the first Jewish woman melodramatist in England.
Elizabeth Hamblin was a British-born American stage actress and one of the first female theatre managers in the United States.
Charles Zachary Barnett was an English librettist and playwright of Jewish descent notable for writing the libretti for two operas by his brother the composer John Barnett as well as for his early theatrical adaptations of the works of Charles Dickens.
This is a chronological list of women playwrights who were active in England and Wales, and the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland before approximately 1800, with a brief indication of productivity. Nota Bene: Authors of dramatic works are the focus of this list, though many of these writers worked in more than one genre.)
The Three Strangers is an 1825 stage melodrama by the British writer Harriet Lee. It was based on one of her own works Kruitzner, co-written as part of The Canterbury Tales with her sister Sophia.
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