#sarah siddons

[loveswitchery]

a perfectly savage creature

Sarah Siddons, Remarks on the character of Lady Macbeth

[britneyshakespeare]

I don't know who needs to hear this but the Black Parade isn't even a tad bit overrated

[warblingandwriting]

One face looks out from all his canvases, One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans: We found her hidden just behind those screens, That mirror gave back all her loveliness. A queen in opal or in ruby dress, A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens, A saint, an angel — every canvas means The same one meaning, neither more or less. He feeds upon her face by day and night, And she with true kind eyes looks back on him, Fair as the moon and joyful as the light: Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright; Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.

-In An Artists Studio, Christina Rossetti, 1856.

I really love this poem, and I wanted to actually write a few words about it. Fans of the gothic might notice it's similarity to Poe's 'The Oval Portrait' , another story about an artists model. But for Rossetti, it was perhaps more personal, as her brother, Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti, married his own artist model, Elizabeth Siddall. She modelled extensively for both her husband and the other Pre-Raphaelites both before and after her marriage, and may well have been who Christina Rossetti was thinking of when she wrote this poem. Although, seemingly unlike this poem's subject, Siddall was an accomplished artist herself as well. This is The Ladies Lament, painted the same year as this poem was written:

Here is some more information on here, and so more of her art.

[corvidaedream]

New Boot Goofin'

[lemuseum]

[redthefortuneteller]

Chapter 209

Chapter 209 was… well I think it provided a lot more questions than one would expect.

So, first off, my theory of Snake being originally a snake was proven wrong by the mention of a human mother. However the experimental facility held by someone akin to a dr Moreau having made Snake the was he is, still stands. As I'd already mentioned on this post, it's been officially confirmed that he did stay and eavesdrop on their conversation. And it's also been confirmed he'd been suspicious when they said they'd leave on that morning when he said "going out again?" and finally he was indeed flip flopping between believing our Ciel and being against him, which was one of the points I made in the dr. Moreau's theory post. He says he always felt suspicious. I believe either from intuition or because Sebastian right from the get go tried sneaking into the first tier side by pretending to be lost, before he even became a member of the circus.

As a small side-note to this @abybweisse's post, Snake didn't know Smile was the earl Phantomhive. He followed the scent of their circus clothes and it led him to the town house. Once there, he was confronted by Agni and Soma, he asked if a small lad and a man dressed all in black lived there. But until then we're led to believe that he didn't know of their identity. It's been so long, I too don't remember all the details about every single thing! Also, I believe he delayed reporting to Joker because he knew Doll knew Smile was in the first tier side and did nothing. So he didn't know if he should take it into his own hands to report to Joker if Doll, who is one of his superiors in a sense, already knew of this and was keeping quiet. I spoke of this more in depth here if anyone's interested. It's the same link as the one I linked in the begining.

Right, then we have a whole rewash of things that had already been known for years, with perhaps the exception of him being taught mathematics. We'd already known that he had been taught how to read. All of this in quite a fleeting, vague way. Nothing even close to the flashbacks Baldroy got. And Baldroy didn't die so, with all humbleness, I don't think he needed so much put in about him because he shall still have time to "talk" about it. In comparison, that is. Of course it's interesting know Baldroy's backstory and know more about his time with the Phantomhives. I simply feel Snake should be rightfully owed much more in comparison, since his time is now over... I will post more of my feelings on this later. Finally, we get information about a human mother, which of course confirms my theory about his origins is not to be! At least not in it's main point which is him being a snake originally. He could still have been in a experimental facility of the sort, of course.

Now, the information we were left with is simply these three points which weren't touched on or explained in any way before he died:

he was at some point in an orphanage (but was illiterate)

he was in a cage since he can remember

he and the snakes came from somewhere far away

his mother was an actress by the name of Sarah Kemble

he not only has snake attributes like snake skin, slit pupils and a split tongue, he also understands what they say and talks to them

I've been thinking hard and am having a little bit of a hard time trying to tie these three things together in a flowing, graceful manner that would fit the story and not sound like a very twisted pretzel of a backstory. Haha! Of course given more time I hope to conjure something of sense up! I'm looking forward to reading everyone's ideas on this! Everything that I was going to say about Sarah Siddons (born, Sarah Kemble) was already said by @abybweisse on this post which is quite aptly named, given that the woman that brought Snake into the world, brought out of her womb a personified epitome of tragedy, which is him.

I'd only like to add that she was born in Wales. Although Wales doesn't really count as a place far away, I just feel like mentioning this as it could become relevant later on, or someone might think of something that might add to the story. It's hard to know exactly how much Yana intends to keep in the manga of the real Sarah Kemble and how much is made up for the story. So, how much we can stretch what we know for theories is limited. We could for example say Sarah went to one of the British colonies, gave birth to her bastard child (Snake) there and left him.

Now the orphanage and the cage are a little hard to put together for me, but alas… also him not knowing how to read is odd as he was in an orphanage. Of course, we should consider too, the possibility that he could've been living there at a time when he was very little and still unfit to learn such skills. Then some organization got him and experimented on him?

Or Was he given away in England to an orphanage and later picked up by an organization that was using "free" orphaned children to experiment on them and thus taken to somewhere far away? And that's when he was introduced to the all snakes? And then they all came together back to England again? You see how it quickly becomes a little messy? But he did say that since when he can remember he was always in a cage… was he in a cage in the orphanage? That's very peculiar. Unless, the orphanage was the experimenting facility, as in my theory (minus him being originally a snake, of course).

Could he have been born as he is of some sort of socialite demonic ritual and the mother was a sacrifice? I mean, I suppose I had already thought of this hypothesis but it just sounded so inorganic that I didn't further consider it… That's simply my opinion of course, maybe with a few little details added, it could become more palatable!

That's it for now! Thank you for reading!

[grelleswife]

I tried looking up Sarah Kemble and got Sarah Siddons. Indeed an actress who had 7 kids apparently and was known for playing Lady Macbeth. 😳

Hi, anon! Although the historical Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) lived decades prior to the main events of Kuro, from 1755-1831, her profession and the spelling of her maiden name are identical to those provided in Chapter 209. According to her Wikipedia article, Siddons excelled in tragic roles such as Hamlet and Queen Catherine (Henry VIII)—but, as you mentioned, she was most renowned for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth. Contemporary writer William Hazlitt went so far as to declare her “tragedy personified.” Yana apparently wanted to emphasize Snake’s fate as a child of sorrow doomed to an unhappy end!

When you consider Siddons’s large family and the fact that she maintained a persona of dignified, maternal femininity onstage and off (which ensured her career remained largely scandal-free—thus disproving some of my musings in this post), there’s a bitter irony to Yana’s choice of name for Snake’s mother. Snake, who never knew his mother, and who had not one but two happy, bustling families stripped away from him.

[shakespearenews]

Hamlets have been very short (David Garrick and Edmund Kean), fat (Thomas Betterton), exceedingly fat (Stephen Kemble), tall and rangy (David Warner), immensely muscular (Edwin Forrest), plain-looking (William Macready) and superlatively handsome (John Barrymore and Laurence Olivier). They have also at times, most often in the 19th century, been women (Sarah Siddons, Charlotte Cushman, Sarah Bernhardt and, a few years ago in New York, Diane Venora).

[paintingispoetry]

Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Mrs. Sarah Siddons, 1785

[romanticism-art-history]

Mrs Sarah Siddons painted by Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830)

[centuriespast]

Sarah Siddons as Isabella from 'The Tragedy of Isabella' or 'The Fatal Marriage' William Hamilton (1751–1801) University of Bristol Theatre Collection

[truedarkhunter]

LET'S Talk about SNAKE!!

**Here's your spoiler warning. So don't read on if you aren't caught up on the manga to the point of Snake's history in Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler. **

We finally get a glimpse into Snake's history and there is a little clue hidden in it that this is probably the real end of the line for the Phantomhive Footman. So the first has fallen and is a precursor of all that is to come as promised by the throne Ciel sat upon that rested on a hill of bodies so long ago.

So if you happen to go digging into Snake's background, the manga mentions that his mother was Sarah Kemble. This wasn't a throw-away name. Looking it up, Sarah Kemble was the maiden name of the actress Sarah Siddons. (When you see née before a surname/last name, it means it was the name before marriage.)

So if you happen to go digging into Snake's background, the manga mentions that his mother was Sarah Kemble. This wasn't a throw-away name. Looking it up, Sarah Kemble was the maiden name of the actress Sarah Siddons. (When you see née that indicates the name before marriage.) She was a real person who lived from July 5, 1755 to June 8, 1831.

The clue was in her acting specialty: tragedies. She was specifically called a tragedienne, and known as "tragedy personified". Obviously, Kuroshitsuji has been playing fast and loose with timelines already. Charles Phipps (December 10, 1753 - October 20, 1786) and Charles Grey (March 13, 1764 - July 17, 1845) had a good 11 year gap between them, so make unlikely peers. So it shouldn't be assumed that Snake is actually from the 1700's.

However, as his mother was chosen for being the embodiment of tragedy, Snake's story is to show how sometimes people die without getting to answer the big questions in their life. Moreover, his life being the height of tragedy also means we aren't likely to see him turned into a Bizarre Doll. Earlier he and Finny were rejected as having something off in their blood. Finny's is from the experimentation done on him. Snake's is from whatever illness or genetic deviation that gave him his scales. Even if Undertaker or an underling with the knowledge of how to convert a person into a Bizarre Doll were on hand to try to "save" him, those differences would probably cause the effort to fail. Again, hinted at by the rejection of his blood type as well as the descriptor given of his mother. So we shall be left wanting Snake to know the great "Why's" but not getting to see him learn the answers. Although I would be deeply interested in seeing a chapter dedicated to his judgement and Afterlife options. We haven't really seen the angelic side of the series make an appearance yet. Ash/Angela from the anime have been replaced by the two Charles. It would be interesting in seeing what the Heavenly Host are like here or even a bidding war for Snake's soul based on his goodness of character and his misdeeds done on behalf of his "family".

My apologies on how late this analysis has taken. It's been hard to have the energy and time in the same place to work on this, but I've been excited about it since the chapter dropped. Thoughts? @abybweisse @tirnelsutcliff

[larobeblanche]

Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1881) • Sarah Siddons (née Kemble) • 1787 • National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

[cordeliaflyte]

hiiiiii who knows if Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble ever played lovers/spouses on stage and if so when

[pers-books]

Tom Stoppard and Jemma Redgrave back £1.25m fundraising appeal for Hampstead

NOV 23, 2023 BY MATTHEW HEMLEY

Tom Stoppard, left, and Jemma Redgrave in Octopolis, which recently ran at the Hampstead Theatre. Photos: Shutterstock/The Other Richard

Tom Stoppard, Robert Lindsay and Jemma Redgrave are among supporters of a campaign seeking to raise £1.25 million for Hampstead Theatre to continue commissioning and producing new plays.

It comes as the theatre announces a new season of work for the spring of 2024, which includes four premieres, including a new play by April De Angelis.

The fundraising campaign follows Hampstead Theatre being cut from Arts Council England’s national portfolio last year, meaning it lost an annual subsidy of £766,455, which prompted concerns from writers that the venue would cut back on original work.

It also resulted in the resignation of its then artistic director Roxana Silbert, with chief executive Greg Ripley-Duggan taking over responsibility for the programming.

Ripley-Duggan previously confirmed to The Stage that the studio space would continue to be a home for new writing, but warned there could be cuts to the number of shows staged in the space.

The #HampsteadAhead campaign is a philanthropic appeal for £1.25 million "to propel Hampstead Theatre as it continues to nurture and commission writers, produce new plays and offer significant ticket subsidies to thousands of young people".

A small number of Hampstead’s supporters and trustees have already pledged £1 million towards the appeal.

Playwright Roy Williams said the campaign was "vital to its continued success", while Stoppard added: “Just being here at Hampstead Theatre makes me feel the necessity of theatres like this, not just surviving but flourishing. It’s a lot to do with succeeding generations of writers and that’s why the #HampsteadAhead appeal is important.”

Ripley-Duggan said Hampstead’s aim had "always been to present outstanding new plays and champion original talent".

"Philanthropy is at the heart of Hampstead’s future and with £1 million already pledged towards our new £1.25 million #HampsteadAhead appeal, we want to say thank you for the rock-solid support of our patrons, audiences and trustees," he added.

The new season opens with the world premiere of The Divine Mrs S by De Angelis, directed by Anna Mackmin, about 18th-century theatre actor Sarah Siddons. This runs from March 22 to April 27, with press night on March 28.

Michael Longhurst returns to Hampstead Theatre to direct the UK premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy, from May 3 to June 15, with press night on May 13.

Concluding the season on the main stage is Christopher Hampton’s Visit from an Unknown Woman, an adaptation of a short story by Stefan Zweig, which will be directed by Clare Lizzimore and runs from June 21 to July 27, with press night on July 1.

The Hampstead Downstairs programme includes Grud, a first play by Sarah Power, directed by Jaz Woodcock-Stewart, Richard Molloy’s The Harmony Test, directed by Alice Hamilton, and Richard Nelson’s An Actor Convalescing in Devon, written for and performed by Paul Jesson and directed by Clarissa Brown.

“We’re thrilled that, as we approach the end of our first year without government subsidy, we can still offer such a rich and varied programme of new plays for our audiences to enjoy," Ripley-Duggan said.

[rfsnyder]

Sarah Siddons