Ada Rehan by Kevin Hannan

da Rehan, perhaps the greatest and most famous actress and stage personality ever to come out of this country, was born at No. 1, Shan- non Street, Limerick, on April 22nd. 1860. Her father was Thomas Crehan, one of the hundreds who worked in and around the harbour. As a skilled shipwright, he might be regarded as by Kevin Hannan belonging to the middle class, espe- cially since he is sometimes described as a 'ship-owner', though the same badge of respectability might be pin- ned on every "badoir" that broughtturf from L2basheeda to Arthur's Quay. His address, however, was some distance from the working class districts at the time, and gives some authenticity to the claims of his social standing. In those days, the harbour was a busy place, and it was not uncommon to see a forest of masts along the river between the dock gate and the Custom House. New vessels, usually schoon- ers, yawls and such smaller craft, were built at the Lansdowne Yard (still to be seen, in dereliction, near St. Michael's Boat Club), and at the Long Dock (near the Co. Courthouse); which was known, around the turn of the century, as Farrell's Yard. No doubt, Tom Cre- han had a hand in the building of some of the finevessels that leftthese stocks. With the transition from sail to steam, work i~ the Limerick yards began to decline and the skills of the shipwright were becoming less and less in demand. Evidently this change, however gradual, was beginning to be felt by the mid-1860s, for we find Tom Cre- han packing up and emigrating to the United States with his wife and family -two boys and three girls. There may have been other reasons for this move, for the Baltimore Sun described him as "...a shipwright and ship-owner who met with reverses and emigrated to this country about the close of the Civil War". Tom Crehan, the craftsman, was also a good provider, for he soon set up his family in a comfortable home. Appa- Ada Rehan and John Drew in "The Railroad of Love", Daly's Theatre, New York, 1838. rently, they got along well with their new neighbours; after a short time the with Augustin Daly, the ebullient Ada Crehan, and it was not until she older girl, Mary Kate struck up a impresario who was to guide their had become the leading lady with Mrs. friendship with Oliver Byron, a well youngest sister, Ada (Charlotte), to the John Drew, at the Arch Street Theatre connected playwright and actor who dizzy heights of stardom. in Philadelphia, that she got her new was enjoying some success in his pro- Despite her family's connection with name. The change was caused by a fession. They married after a short the stage, Ada's introduction to it was printer's error in billing her in the cast courtship, and soon Katie was on the purely accidental. On a night in 1874, as 'Ada C. Rehan'. For the rest of her life stage playing beside her husband. No she was taken by her elder sister to the she remained Ada Rehan - without doubt she was assisted in her new Newark Theatre, New Jersey, where the "C". Her brother, Arthur, was the career by a fine soprano voice which, Oliver Byron was playing. One of the only other member of her family to during her Limerick days, had thrilled actresses was taken ill, and Byron, at assume this name. congregatibns in the Franciscan his wits' end to find a replacement, Within a few months of her acciden- Church. After a few months, her asked his young sister-in-law to read tal debut, Ada secured a position in younger sister, Hattie, followed her on the lines. Ada's performance was so Mrs. Drew's Company, where her great to the stage, as did her brothers, Wil- successful that she continued to fill the talents made for dazzling perfor- liam, and Arthur. The former became role for several nights, until the actress mances in such parts as Ophelia-to an agent for his brother-in-law, Oliver whose part she played had recovered. Edwin Booth's Hamlet, and Lady Anne Byron, while Arthur- was associated She was then known by her own name, to John McCullough's Richard111. In the TWENTY-NINE period 1875-278, she played nearly Daly came under the lash of many reputation. Her Viola was irresistible; 200 different roles, &mainlyShakespe- other eminent critics of the time, her Rosalind took all-time high rank; rean heroines, in Philadelphia, Louis- including the dreaded George Bernard her Peggy in The Country Girl, was ville, Albany and Baltimore. In 1879, Shaw, whose biting invective leaves perhaps as fine as Mrs. Jordan's; but she took a decisive step on the road to nothing to the imagination: "...Her it was her Katherine in The Taming of fame when she met Augustin Daly, the (Ellen Terry's) only rival as a Shakespe- the Shrew, for which she will always man who was to domidate her life until rean actress was the great Ada Rehan be remembered. In that part she had his death, 20 years later. It was during (who by a printer's error became fam- few if any peers; certainly none in her this period that Ada reached stardom in ous as Ada C. Rehan): and her genius own time. Daly must be given credit a world theatre graced by such actres- too was being wasted by Augustin for this for it was he who restored the ses as Ellen Terry and Lily Langtry. She Daly, another master mutilator of the play to its full Shakespearean sig- seems to have been captivated by Daly, unfortunate playwright whom he pro- nificance, re-inserting the portions who was a married man and a "strict fessed to adore. But, as Daly did not which Garrick had deleted. He took Catholic". his company to England, first in 1884 This was, ostensibly, a purely busi- and again in 1886, when a Berlin sea- ness association, but the petty son was undertaken and also in 1888 jealousies, foibles and, squabbles of when his version of the Shrew won these two decades marked out the high praise. Paris was only mildly partnership as an extra-marital liaison UNDER TlXE LXQ W'F enthusiastic but English critics recog- of the deepest emotional attachment, nised the value of his restorations though it was opined by more than one and the company was well received. contemporary that Daly would not So warm was the response that he have married Ada Rehan, even if he built a theatre in London ... (torn had been free to do so. Yet their down in 19391, which became one of behaviour was that of a couple in love, the most popular theatres in "the and Daly's habit of hiring glamorous British capital". actresses and ditching them uncer- When Augustin Daly brought Ada moniously so as to make it easier for Rehan to London in 1884 the theat- his own leading lady to retain her regoers expected the usual American supremacy at the top of the bill gave style stage presentation, but what a further credence to that conclusion. surprise they got! The patrons of Notwithstanding the charges made O'Toole's Theatre went wild with against him by a number of influential delight. One eminent critic had this to critics, Augustin Daly was a remarkable say after her first performance: man by any standards. Born in 1838, he "Hitherto Daly had put before us little began his theatrical career by writing -. else but German-American farce, V--.- -1- ."". dramatic criticism for the New York *WM~~afi~hid~ beautifully played, but a little thin and Courier. He soop emerged as an ingeni- not very satisfactory. Suddenly he ous playwright, and adapted more than poster for Augustin Daly's play "Under the Gas Lighr announced his intention of produc- 90 plays, usually from French or Ger- himself act, his hackings and hewings ing a Shakespearean comedy. He man drama or from English and Ameri- were very largely addressed to the would submit to us The Taming of can novels. Most of these plays were object of taking all the good lines out of the Shrew, with Miss Rehan as theatrically successful but had little the other parts and adding them to Ada Katherine. We all remember the literary value. However, they sewed to Rehan's: and she spoke them so har- result. What a revelation, to begin further his managerial ambitions and moniously that when listening to her it with, was the setting of the play, how also launched several popular actres- was impossible to care much about much charm there was in the scen- ses who appeared under his direction. anything but the music of her voice and ery! But the main benefaction was He became a theatre owner when he Shakespeare's." the presentation to us, in the person opened his new Fifth Avenue Theatre If Augustin Daly was such a bounder, of Miss Rehan, of a new Shakespea- on December 14th, 1875. how then did Miss Rehan attain such rian actress of the finest gifts, and From the moment Daly first saw Ada pre-eminence in her profession? The most delightful powers - the only Rehan in Mrs. John Drew's Company in whole theatrical world raved about her real adequate Katherine that had Philadelphia, he was quick to discern and the seasoned critics were hard been seen on the English stage in the the genius that lay hidden behind the pushed to find appropriate adjectives memory of middle-aged enthusiasts. captivating personality. He set about to describe her brilliance. Surely the Coming over again in 1890, Mr. Daly the task of establishing her in his man deserves some credit for this suc- installed himself at the Lyceum and theatre. This he did, and soon she fell cess. J announced a revival of As You Likelt, under the spell of his forceful personal- Daly's - and Ada Rehan's - con- and expectation was raised in the ity. He showed her every trick of the tribution to the theatre was more minds of devout theatregoers to trade and she quickly blossomed forth, calmly assessed in A History of the fever heat. In Katherine, Miss Rehan as W. Graham Robertson has noted: Theatre by George Freedley and John had few and not many formidable "... bewitching, elusive, irritating, A. Reeves, published in New York in rivals. In Rosalind she would have to amazing Ada Rehan ... her career was a 1941: contend against memories of the ten- mystery which to me admits of but one "In 1879 Ada Rehan, the young derest and most agreeable sort - explanation; Daly must have been a woman who was to become one of memories of Adelaide Neilson, Marie great actor who couldn't act. He was America's leading portrayers of com- Litton, Mary Anderson and the like. rough and uncouth, with harsh utter- edy, came to Daly's where she has Moreover, As You Like It as a play is ance and uncultured accent; a singer been seen in a variaty of parts. Of one concerning which every English without a voice, a musician without an these, her two outstanding roles amateur has made up his mind. instrument. But in Ada Rehan he found were Mrs. Osprey in Daly's The Rail- There is no theatreg~erworth his salt his means of self expression; Ada roadof Love (1887) and the Baroness who has not his ideal Rosalind. This Rehan with her quaint charm and gen- Vera in his A Test Case (1892). How- then was a grave undertaking, not tle nature which he could mould to his ever, it was in Daly's notable Shakes- only for Daly, but for Miss Rehan, will." pearean revivals that she made her who came to play Rosalind in the

THIRTY very centre of Shakespearian cul- with such fervour and adulation that Daly's has there been such cause for ture and tradition, and to play it, as it Daly was stirred to build a theatre espe- hurraying, such kid-glove-bursting turned out, quite in her own fashion, cially for her. (He had experienced applause, such bouquet tossing across and without reference to the conven- some difficulty in procuring a suitable the bedazzled footlights, welcoming tions of the past. Well, here again, we theatre in the city). Ada Rehan laid the our newest, our dearest star, Miss Ethel all remember,the result - triumph, corner-stone of the new building in Barrymore." triumph, all along the line". Leicester Square on October 30, 1891. Though Miss Rehan made many During her London seasons, Ada This theatre later became a fashionable triumphal visits to England until her Rehan was much in demand for guest home of musical comedy. last appearance there in 1895, there is no evidence that she ever visitedithe city of her birth. Theatre-going ,in Limerick was at its height during,h/er lifetime, and faithful, old Theatre Royal stalwarts would surely have made the rafters ring had she appeared on its boards. But such was not to be. Ada Rehan retired from the stage in 1905, when she was only 45 years old. Public taste had changed and, as more naturalistic plays and acting techniques came into vogue, her style became dated. The best known picture of the great actress, at the age of 31, hardly does her full justice, arrayed as she is in dowdy Victorian garb, complete with ridiculous hat. A more prepossessing picture may be conjured up from a contemporary description which appeared in theDaily Chronicle: "... Miss Rehan's features were powerful and intelligent rather than beautiful, but her figure so nearly approached perfection that she was invited to be the model for the Montana statue, which, cast in silver, and representing the ideal of female loveliness, was one of the sights at the great Chicago Exhibition." Ada Rehan never married. When she died in New York on January 8th 1916, aged 56 years, her body was cremated. Writing her obituary, the Times dramatic critic paid her this tribute: "In the closing years of the last century, when Ada Rehan was in her prime, she was without a rival in her province on the comic stage. What- ever stage she entered she domi- nated. In Shakespearian comedy - the full-blooded, notthe dreamy, fan- tastic, regimen of it -she was a mar- vel. The bubbling effervescing fun of her Rosalind was an unforgettable delight. There have been more ten- der Rosalinds, and more refined- but probably none so humorous and J Ada Rehan in her famous classical pose. none so full of essential womanhood. But her Rosalind was surpassed by her Katherine in the Taming of the and charity performances. On July Because she was particularly suc- Shrew. You thought Shakespeare 23rd 1890, she read a poem by Thomas cessful in portraying mannered comic foresaw her when he wrote that part. Hardy at a performance on behalf of roles, Daly restricted her playing roles You feel that something of Shakes- Lady Jeune's Holiday Fund for City of that kind and, after his death in 1899, peare's secret died with Ada Rehan." Children, at the Lyceum Theatre. She her popularity declined. However, her The great actress is now forgotten was then at the height of her success. reputation remained intact, and the in her native city where not even a sim- And, as one biographical note, put it, performances of young, up-and-com- ple plaque marks the place of her she continued "creating a furore with ing actresses were often measured birth.While many of our modern her impersonations of Katherine (Tam- against hers. For instance, when Ethel, streets and statues are memorials to ing of the Shrew); Rosalind (As YOU Barrymore, a sibling of the famous small-time political nonentities, there Like It); Villa (Twelfth Night); Lady American theatrical family, made her is none to honour Ada Rehan. A further Teazle (School for Scandal) etc." New York debut, at the Garrick Theatre insult was offered in more recent The London theatre community - on February 4th 1901, one newspaper times when our only surviving theatre, said to be the most critical in the world I reported: '~otsince John ~rekied the Coliseum, was renamed after a at the time - embractd Miss Rehan Ada Rehan before the curtain at Mr. Continental nonentity named Beltable.

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