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Siddons, Mrs Sarah (1755 - 1831)
The famous actress made her debut in Edinburgh 22nd May 1784, in Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway. For this performance, and for her performance the following year, the Capital was in a state of considerable excitement. According to the Edinburgh Weekly Magazine: 'The manager took the precaution after the first night to have an officer and Guard of Soldiers at the principal door. But several scuffles having ensued through the eagerness of the people to get places, and the soldiers having been rash enough to use their bayonets, it was thought advisable to withdraw the guards on the third night, lest any accident had happened from the pressure of the crowd, who began to assemble round the doors at 11 in the forenoon.' In 1788, she played again in Edinburgh. This time in the role of Lady Randolph in John Home's Douglas. Burns mentioned her in the Prologue which he wrote for the actor William Woods' Benefit Night: 'It needs no Siddons' powers in Southern's song.' The reference is to The Fatal Marriage by Thomas Southerne (1660 - 1746), in which Mrs Siddons was celebrated for the part of Isabella. She was a sister of John Kemble, and her son, Henry, was the manager of Edinburgh's Theatre Royal. Henry Mackenzie said that: 'She could not untragedise herself... She promised Scots oatmeal porridge in terms that might have applied to nectar or ambrosia'.
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