ABSTRACT
Alice was now in her early thirties. Her voice was in its prime, she had proved herself an adaptable performer with considerable audience appeal, and, although not as slim as in her colonial days, she still cut a fine figure onstage. The initial failure of Le Petit Duc had done little to damage the good reputation she had built up since her British debut with Richard W.South’s company two years earlier. Although she had some way to go before she could call herself the equal of such top-ranking musical stars as Emily Soldene or Constance Loseby, she was indisputably a leading lady. This did not mean she earned an astronomical salary. In 1885, a writer on British theatrical finances noted that “in opera-bouffe a a popular prima donna can command £40-50 a week and a leading comedy actress £20-40.”Although this was good money by the standards of the day, it was little enough given the uncertainties of a profession with no pension provisions and where there were often long periods of unemployment between one engagement and the next.
