Mary Ann Yates
Mary Anne Yates 1728 – 1786
One of the great tragic actresses of her age.
Tilly Kettle’s 1765 portrait shows Mary Ann Yates in her costume as Mandane in Arthur Murphy's tragedy, The Orphan of China. First performed in 1759 at Drury Lane, London, the script is based on Voltaire's play L'Orphelin de Chine (1755), itself a translation of a 13th century Chinese play. It is set in medieval times, with China under the cruel rule of the Tartar leader Timkurkan. The complex plot sees a high-ranking official, Zamti, and his wife Mandane wrangle with the excruciating moral dilemma of whether to sacrifice their son in the cause of national independence.
Mandane was Yates’ breakthrough part. She had been acting at Drury Lane for several years but only achieved minor roles. It was difficult for a young actress to disturb the monopoly held by established stars. David Garrick had scheduled the part of Mandane for Susannah Cibber the reigning tragedian, but Cibber was ill. Rather than postpone the new play, the writer Arthur Murphy, in desperate need of money, coached Yates in secret. When he persuaded Garrick to audition Yates, she got the part and went on to make it her own.
Her costume is a version of the fashionable wrapping gown, seen in many portraits of this time. Actresses were expected to appear in the fashionable silhouette, with side hoops, but if Yates is wearing hoops, they are small, and their effect is lessened by the vertical panels hanging from her waist. The strong colour and patterned decorations heighten the impression of Eastern exoticism. The tight inner sleeves with frill at the wrist look medieval. For her audience, this would have added to the sense that this is a historical play. They would have been familiar with the illustrations in A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Ancient and Modern, by Thomas Jeffreys (1757), a popular source for masquerade costumes. There are several versions of dress for women of China in volume 1, which show how details have been added to fashionable dress to give Yates’ costume its eastern feel.
Yates went on to become a successful and popular actress. She reworked Cibber’s tragic heroines from a soft and submissive style into majestic, unyielding women. She created characters who were both physically and vocally stronger than Cibber’s’. Sadly, the heroines that made Yates famous are not to modern taste. Plays such as The Orphan of China are no longer performed. She has been overshadowed by Sarah Siddons, whose own success was largely based on Yates’ new style of acting. We remember her through this powerful portrait by Tilly Kettle.
Theatre History Podcast. Dr Elaine McGirr talks about Mary Ann Yates:
https://howlround.com/learning-about-mary-ann-yates-dr-elaine-mcgirr
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