Peg Woffington

Irish actor

• Born: October 18, 1720?
• Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
• Died: March 28, 1760
• Place of death: London, England

Highly celebrated as both a comedic and tragic actor, Woffington rose from abject poverty in Dublin to become one of the most famous leading ladies of the eighteenth century London stage. She was also noted—but not without criticism—for her breeches roles, playing male characters and wearing men’s clothing. Her role as Sir Henry Wildair is likely her most brilliant performance.

Early Life

Peg Woffington was born into poverty in eighteenth century Dublin. Not much is known about her early life, even the precise date of her birth, but her beauty and brilliant personality set her apart from overpopulated Dublin’s numerous street children and paved the way for her to become one of eighteenth century London’s greatest theatrical actresses. Her father died when she was very young, so to support her widowed mother and young sister, Woffington became a street singer.

She first gained recognition at the age of ten, when she acted in the popular role of Polly Peachum in the 1730 Lilliputian juvenile production of John Gay’s enormously well-known play, The Beggar’s Opera, at the Aungier St. Theatre in Dublin. The following year, in 1731, the youngster traveled to London with Madame Violante, the French woman who managed the Lilliputian theatrical company. In London, Woffington observed and came to develop a strong desire for the type of lavish lifestyle she was ultimately to lead.

Woffington’s career gained momentum after she returned to Dublin and found work as an actor at the popular Smock Alley Theatre in 1732, thanks to theater manager Charles Coffey. Here she was to perform with the most famous and highly celebrated eighteenth century British stage actor, David Garrick. In 1737 she appeared as Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet—to mixed reviews—but followed this performance—to better reviews—playing Sylvia in George Farquhar’s Recruiting Officer. In 1740, in what some call her greatest role, Woffington performed the so-called breeches role, that of the male character Sir Harry Wildair in Farquhar’s Constant Couple, and daringly wore men’s clothing on stage in an era in which is was unheard of for a woman to wear pants, let alone full male attire.

Life’s Work

By 1740, Peg Woffington was one of Dublin’s most celebrated and gossiped-about women, and certainly the city’s leading actress, famous not only for her beauty but also for her perfect diction. She had suitors by the dozen beg to be seen with her. Before long, she was on her way with Coffey to Covent Garden in London, where, in 1740, she came to work for manager John Rich. Audiences in London adored her as much as audiences did in Dublin, especially in the role of Sir Harry Wildair at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In no time she became Britain’s most popular actress, and did so in the refined world of eighteenth century London, the locale for classic novels such as Tom Jones and Moll Flanders.

As Britain’s leading actress at the legendary Drury Lane between 1740 and 1746, Woffington created a brilliant career on the London stage, so revered that she could pick and choose the theaters in which she would perform and the dramatic roles she would undertake. “Peg,” as she was endearingly called, had a natural comedic talent but also enjoyed high distinction for her classic roles as Shakespeare’s Rosalind and Mistress Ford. Her other notable Shakespearean roles include Cordelia, Lady Anne (Richard III), Lady Townley, Portia, Isabella, Viola, Mrs. Ford, Queen Katherine, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, and Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.

Also, in 1750, Woffington set herself apart as the only female member of the famous Beefsteak Club, or, the Sublime Society of Steaks, established by Covent Garden manager John Rich. Otherwise known as “the Club,” its famous members included the artist William Hogarth and Garrick, and many other London celebrities and literati. In 1754, Woffington became president of the Dublin Beefsteak Club.

Woffington’s personal life, however problematic, was as colorful as her life on stage. She gained a reputation for her bitter lifelong rivalries and argumentative relationships with other famous actresses, in particular, George Anne Bellamy and Kitty Clive. Indeed, so vile was her temper that while acting in Statira, Woffington drove Bellamy off the stage and then stabbed her. In addition to choosing famous theaters and interesting dramatic roles, Woffington also learned she could choose from a variety of lovers. Upon first arriving in London, she met and fell in love with Garrick. Similarly, he too fell madly in love with her. Their almost immediate plans to marry quickly became grist for the public information mill, much in the manner of the more modern fascination with celebrity couples. Indeed, they were the equivalent of superstars and had to choose between love and marriage or fame and its temptations: They chose the latter.

Woffington was Garrick’s leading lady from 1742 to 1748, and while they never married—some say he could not cope with her extravagances and infidelities—he became the most important man in her life until 1744, when she left him. Some scholars maintain she left Garrick because he wanted too much control over her life and career. However, Woffington continued to work with him as an actor. Garrick later wrote “My Lovely Peggy” and other songs for Woffington.

Although she maintained a notorious reputation for having numerous love affairs, the number seems to have been exaggerated. Indeed, scholars maintain she loved four men only, among them the writer and politician Edmund Burke. After leaving Garrick in 1744, she started a new life by moving to the house called Teddington Place in the village of Teddington near London. Here she converted the property’s barn into a theater and used the theater’s first play, The Distressed Mother, to launch her sister Mary into show business. Mary, however, a weak actor, was usurped by Bellamy, who went on after this performance to become another famous eighteenth century actor.

Woffington continued to act in Covent Garden until ill health forced her to retire in 1757. During the May 3, 1757, performance of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, she collapsed from a stroke while performing Rosalind’s epilogue, in the middle of the line, “I would kiss as many… ,” after which she retired from the stage.

Woffington died on March 28, 1760, and is buried at St. Mary’s Church in Teddington. The National Portrait Gallery in London contains eighteen portraits of her.

Significance

Although she climbed to the heights of London’s theatrical world, Peg Woffington never forgot her roots and remembered and honored her own childhood in poverty by founding almshouses for the poor in Teddington. She is the subject of Masks and Faces (1852), a play by Charles Reade, on which Reade based his 1853 novel Peg Woffington. The novel deals with Woffington’s affair with Sir Charles Vane, the stressful consequences on his wife Mabel, and Woffington’s change of heart and subsequent early death.

Bibliography

Dunbar, Jane. Peg Woffington and Her World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. A comprehensive examination of Woffington’s life, detailing her dramatic roles, both comic and Shakespearean, and her personal life and loves, especially her long-term but sporadic affair with actor David Garrick.

Mahon, Brid. A Time to Love: The Life of Peg Woffington. Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1992. This 550-page book explores the life of Woffington in impoverished eighteenth century Dublin and, in particular, her lifelong connection with her homeland, Ireland. Also details her other home, London, and her interactions with other actors, playwrights, artists, and celebrities.

Marinacci, Barbara. Leading Ladies—A Gallery of Famous Actresses. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1961. Places Woffington and her colorful life and era in the context of many other actors that have made a lasting impact historically and culturally. Also presents good, detailed information on eighteenth century London theater.

Molloy, J. Fitzgerald. The Life and Adventures of Peg Woffington. London: Dodd, Mead, 1892. An older but still very insightful and informative book. Details Woffington’s many reputed love affairs and, in particular, her lengthy affair with Garrick. Of particular interest also are the numerous illustrations of eighteenth century London theaters.

Shevelow, Kathryn. Charlotte: Being a True Account of an Actress’s Flamboyant Adventures in Eighteenth-Century London’s Wild and Wicked Theatrical World. New York: Henry Holt, 2005. A scholar of eighteenth century British literature and culture, Shevelow explores the life of the daughter of influential eighteenth century actor and playwright Colly Cibber, expertly capturing the historical era, and the London of the time, of which Woffington was a part.