ABSTRACT
An anecdotal tendency in the biographers’ approach to the life of Stephen Kemble symptomizes their view of his importance. He has come to be regarded as the comic figure of the Kemble family. The D.N.B. is in error when it implies that Kemble’s first taste of management came in Edinburgh. In true Kemble fashion, Elizabeth Kemble had in 1785 married a theatre manager–Whitlock was at that time managing the Bigg Market Theatre in Newcastle–and it was presumably through her that Stephen and Elizabeth were induced to leave the Haymarket where they had played since 1786. Kemble experienced great difficulty in attempting to establish himself in Edinburgh. Kemble’s success in Edinburgh declined towards the end of his term of management, and, playing more and more parts himself to bolster a weak company, he appears to have cast around for fresh circuits. The Durham circuit benefited much from Kemble’s management. The quality of its stock company was shared with Newcastle.
