ABSTRACT
British actresses had been corralled with disreputable women on the outskirts of 'respectable' society ever since they appeared on the professional stage in 1660. The greatest obstacle to respectability for any female performer lay in the parallel drawn between acting and prostitution. The similarity between these two 'professions' arose from the fact of the actress consenting to be hired for amusement. As the prostitute is 'hired' and paid in return for her favours, the actress was hired and paid for entertaining, and giving satisfaction to, her audience. The theatre was traditionally considered as a place of amusement and performers as instruments of amusement. The public came to the playhouse, and bought their tickets, with the purpose of being amused, and therefore they expected players to discharge their duty faithfully, i.e. to entertain them. Players were servants of the audience, and primarily of higher-class spectators who often patronized them. British aristocrats had always behaved as though they owned the theatres and their audiences, and this dominant-dominated relationship was very much detrimental to the actress's image as it carried a sexual connotation. Aristocratic males regarded actresses as a commodity. Precarious careers placed female performers at the mercy of these dissolute rich. Since acting was an overcrowded and underpaid profession, actresses were often in need of wealthy protectors. The latter knew they could thereby easily buy their favours in exchange for some fmancial and professional support. Contemporary audiences would not take into account that precariousness which made actresses dependent on well-to-do lovers, but charged them with using their lovers for financial and professional rewards, and more generally, with using the stage to climb the social scale. The actress was criticized for exploiting the stage as a self-advertising vehicle for physical attraction and sexual availability. The stage, on which actresses displayed themselves, was indeed often compared to a window through which they could be seen and purchased. The accusation was strengthened by the practice of allowing gentlemen spectators to go behind the scenes. Beaux used to flock to the greenroom to pay court to their favourite actresses, and this practice was once again prejudicial to the image of female performers. Many considered that the actress on stage invited sexual intercourse, trying to catch the eyes of wealthy spectators and thus inviting them to meet her, after the play, behind the scenes. Many love affairs did commence in the greenroom, but flatterers did not need any invitation to force their own way backstage. Whenever a spectator was charmed by an actress on stage, he would go in the greenroom and flirt with her. In
thegreenroom,prettyactresseswerethepreyofthosedissoluterichwhohadthe privilegeoftheentree.Asatiricalprint,titled'FlorizelandPerdita'andpublished onNovemberlOth,1780,shows'Florizel',thePrinceofWales,inthegreenroom atDruryLaneTheatrewith'Perdita',theactressMaryRobinson,lookingather withadmiration,bothhandsraisedasifdazzledbyherbeauty.Whileplaying PerditainGarrick'sadaptationoftheWintersTale,MrsRobinsonhadattractedthe admirationofthePrinceofWales,andtheirfirstmeetinginthegreenroomledtoan associationthatwastheoccasionofmanysquibsandothercaricatures.Thoughthe Princewasanotoriousseducerandthegreenroomatrapforyoungactresses'sexual virtue,'Perdita'washeldresponsiblefortheoutrageousconnection:shehad encouragedthePrince'scourtshipthroughthedisplayofhercharmsonthestage. ThemanysatiresthatassociatedherandthePrinceofWalesblastedheraspiration forrespectabilitywhileunderminingherbloomingcareer.
