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Dorothy (Dora) Jordan (1761-1816)
Dorothy Jordan, conosciuta anche come Dora Jordan, nacque a Londra nel 1761. Figlia illegittima di Francis Bland, Colonnello dell’esercito, e Grace Phillips, attrice di teatro, passò la giovinezza in Irlanda. Nel 1784 il padre lasciò la famiglia e a Dorothy fu assegnato il cognome della madre.
Attrice e cantante, fece il suo debutto nel 1779 nel ruolo di Miss Peggy in The Country Girl (adattamento di David Garrick di The Country Wife di Wycherley), allo Smock Alley Theatre di Dublino. Il teatro, all’epoca, era gestito da Richard Daly, del quale divenne ben presto amante e da cui ebbe un figlio illegittimo, Francis. Nel 1782, fu costretta a lasciare l’Irlanda per sfuggire allo stesso Daly, a cui doveva ingenti somme di denaro.
Giunta a Leeds, iniziò a lavorare con il manager Tate Wilkinson, il quale le assegnò Jordan come cognome d’arte e la accolse nella sua compagnia di York. Cornelius Swan, critico e studioso di Shakespeare presso l’Università di York, riconobbe in lei un grande potenziale e decise di guidarla nell’interpretazione dei ruoli del massimo drammaturgo inglese, dopo aver trovato il denaro necessario per pagare i suoi debiti. Per tre anni Jordan recitò nella compagnia di Wilkinson, finché non fu notata dall’attore William Smith che la raccomandò a Richard Sheridan, impresario del Drury Lane, il quale decise di scritturarla. Iniziò così la sua fruttuosa collaborazione col teatro dove poté inoltre conoscere Richard Ford, uno dei maggiori azionisti, che divenne suo amante e dal quale ebbe tre figli.
Nel 1790 il Principe William Henry, duca di Clarence, dopo averla vista recitare, si interessò alla sua storia e si innamorò di lei. Dopo aver scoperto che Jordan era celibe e con figli, Henry decise di ospitarla nella sua residenza e di provvedere al sostentamento dell’attrice e della sua prole. La coppia non fu tuttavia mai legalmente sposata – cosa che attirò loro anche una serie di critiche pubbliche – e si sciolse nel 1811. Durante la relazione, Jordan aveva continuato a lavorare presso il Drury Lane, ma aveva collaborato anche con il Covent Garden e con numerosi teatri di provincia: nel 1801 a Canterbury, l’anno successivo a Liverpool, nel 1803 a Birmingham, nel 1808 aveva intrapreso a Bath la prima delle sue stagioni annuali, per poi spostarsi a Bristol, Chester, Leicester ed in seguito a Manchester.
Trasferitasi a Chelsea dopo la separazione, seppe da subito imporsi sui palcoscenici londinesi come la prima attrice comica inglese, divenendo così la controparte della musa tragica del tempo, Sarah Siddons. Fra i suoi ruoli comici più famosi vi furono Imogen dal Cymbeline, Rosalind in As You like It, Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing e Viola in Twelfth Night, tratti da opere di Shakespeare. Interpretò inoltre Hippolita in She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not di Colley Cibber, Roxalana in The Sultan di Isaac Bickerstaff, Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal e Lydia Languish in The Rivals di Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Si misurò anche in parti tragiche ricoprendo i ruoli di Ophelia in Amleto e Cora in Pizarro di Sheridan (adattamento dall’originale di August von Kotzebue).
Attrice vivace e briosa, fu molto applaudita nelle parti che richiedevano travestimenti maschili, chiamate breech roles, come Bollario in Philaster di Beaumont e Fletcher, Viola di Twelfth Night, Priscilla Tomboy in The Romp, Little Pickle in The Spoiled Child e Sir Harry Wildair in The Constant Couple di George Farquhar. Fu inoltre la prima a recitare nel ruolo di Angela in The Castle Spectre di Matthew Lewis, Flavia in Vortigern di William Henry Ireland, Cora in Pizarro di Sheridan e Imogen in Adelmorn the Outlaw di Lewis.
Per ragioni economiche, in quello stesso periodo, prese parte ad una serie di spettacoli in giro per il paese. Nel 1788 fu invitata a Cheltenham in occasione della visita di re Giorgio III e della regina Charlotte, nello stesso anno era poi apparsa a Reading e nel circuito di Bath, Portsmouth e Southampton, che continuò a visitare periodicamente anche negli anni successivi. L’anno seguente si spostò invece ad Edimburgo, e successivamente tra York, Margate e Canterbury, fino al 1801. Il 1802 la vide a Liverpool e Preston, il 1803 a Birmingham e, nonostante l’età relativamente avanzata e le condizioni di salute in costante peggioramento, fino al 1810 si recò anche a Chester, Leicester, Manchester e Worcester.
Solo nel 1815 si ritirò dalle scene per trasferirsi a Boulogne, in Francia, dove intraprese un vero e proprio esilio volontario, probabilmente dovuto alle sue precarie condizioni di salute o alla sua situazione economica, perennemente instabile. Morì sola nel luglio 1816 a Parigi.
Lo stile di recitazione di Jordan fu sempre descritto dai contemporanei come particolarmente innovativo: l’attrice abbandonò infatti l’atteggiamento rigido e il dialogo manierato della scuola di Kemble, portando sulla scena una naturale vivacità e freschezza. Per le sue doti e capacità attoriali, fu particolarmente apprezzata da Charles Lamb e da William Hazlitt, che la ricoprì di lodi in uno dei suoi Dramatic Essays; fu inoltre l’attrice preferita di sir Joshua Reynolds. La sua prima biografia ufficiale, Life of Mrs Jordan di James Boaden, fu pubblicata nel 1831.
English Translation
Dorothy (Dora) Jordan (1761-1816)
Dorothy Jordan, also known as Dora Jordan, was born in London in 1761. She was the illegitimate child of Francis Bland, an army colonel, and Grace Phillips, a theatre actress. She spent her childhood in Ireland. In 1784, her father left the family and she took the surname of her mother.
Jordan made her debut as a singer and actress in 1779 in the role of Miss Peggy in The Country Girl (an adaptation of Wycherley’s The Country Wife by David Garrick), at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. At the time, the theatre was under the management of Richard Daly, who soon became her lover. They had an illegitimate child together, named Francis. In 1782, Jordan was forced to leave Ireland to get away from Daly, to whom she owed a great deal of money.
Having made her way to Leeds, Jordan started to work with manager Tate Wilkinson, who gave her the stage surname Jordan and took her in as part of his York company. Cornelius Swan, critic and scholar of Shakespeare at the University of York, saw great potential in her and decided to guide her into acting in roles written by great English playwrights, after finding the necessary money to pay her outstanding debts. For three years, Jordan acted in Wilkinson’s company, until actor William Smith noticed her talent and recommended her to Richard Sheridan, manager of the Drury Lane theatre, who decided to enrol her in his company. Therefore, her fruitful collaborations with the theatre began, where she was also able to meet Richard Ford, one of the theatre’s stakeholders, who became her lover and with whom she had three children.
In 1790, after seeing Jordan onstage, William Henry, duke of Clarence, fell in love with her. After finding out she was a single mother, Henry decided to welcome her into his home and provide for her and her children. However, the two of them were never legally married — which brought them public criticism — and they broke up in 1811. During their relationship, Jordan continued to work at the Drury Lane theatre, but also collaborated with Covent Garden and many other theatres: in Canterbury in 1801, in Liverpool the following year, in Birmingham in 1803. In 1808, she spent the first two seasons of the year in Bath and then moved on to Bristol, Chester, Leicester and Manchester.
After breaking up with Henry and moving to Chelsea, Jordan hit the stages of London as the first English comic actress, becoming the counterpart of the tragic muse of the time, Sarah Siddons. Some of Jordan’s most notable comic roles were Imogen in Cymbeline, Rosalind in As You Like It, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Viola in Twelfth Night, from Shakespeare’s works. She also played Hippolita in Colley Cibber’s She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not, Roxalana in Isaac Bickerstaff’s The Sultan, Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal and Lydia Languish in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals. Jordan also starred in tragic roles such as Ophelia in Hamlet and Cora in Pizarro (an adaptation by Sheridan of August von Kotzebue’s original work).
A lively actress, Jordan was applauded in roles that required male outfits (called ‘breech roles’) like Bollario in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster, Viola in Twelfth Night, Priscilla Tomboy in The Romp, Little Pickle in The Spoiled Child and Sir Harry Wildair in George Farquhar’s The Constant Couple. Jordan was also the first actress to play Angela in Matthew Lewis’s The Castle Spectre,
Flavia in William Henry Ireland’s Vortigern, Cora in Sheridan’s Pizarro and Imogen in Lewis’s Adelmorn the Outlaw.
For financial reasons, in this same period, Jordan took part in a series of shows around the country. In 1788, she was invited to Cheltenham for the visit of King George III and Queen Charlotte. During that same year, she also worked in Reading, Bath, Portsmouth and Southampton, where she came back periodically in the following years. In 1789, she moved to Edinburgh, and later to York, Margate and Canterbury, until 1801. In 1802, she performed in Liverpool and Preston, in 1803 in Birmingham, and, despite her age and health conditions, she kept travelling to work also in Chester, Leicester, Manchester and Worcester. She retired in 1815 and moved to Boulogne, in France, where she went in a voluntary exile, probably due to her precarious health and unstable economic situation. She died alone in Paris in 1816.
Jordan’s acting style was described by coeval critics as particularly innovative: she indeed abandoned the rigid attitude and artificial dialogues introduced by Kemble, in favour of a more natural style characterised by vivacity and freshness. She was extremely appreciated by Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt for her talent and acting style. Hazlitt praised her in one of his Dramatic Essays. She was also Sir Joshua Reynolds’s favourite actress. A first official biography of her life, Life of Mrs Jordan, by James Boaden, was published in 1831.
Translated by Aisha Gueye
Revised by Dott.ssa Valentina Pramaggiore
Bibliografia/Bibliography:
Moody, Jane and Daniel O’Quinn (eds), The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre 1730-1830 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007)
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15119 [Paul Ranger, ‘Jordan, Dorothy (1761–1816)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; consultato il 19/05/2016]