Peg Woffington

Margaret Woffington (18 October 1720 – 28 March 1760), was an Irish actress and socialite of the Georgian era.

Early life Woffington was born of humble origins in Dublin, Ireland yet excelled in playing women from the upper classes. Her father is thought to have been a bricklayer, and after his death, the family became impoverished. Her mother was obliged to take in washing while Peg sold watercress door to door. Madame Violante, a famous tightrope walker, took her on as her apprentice. Her sister Mary Woffington was also an actress but she did not enjoy the same success.

Acting career Around 1730, Madame Violante featured the young Woffington in her Lilliputian Theatre Company's production of John Gay’s The Beggar's Opera. Her performance as Mackheath served as a springboard for continued fame in Dublin. She continued dancing and acting in the area – playing Dorinda in an adaptation of The Tempest as the Theatre Royal, Dublin in 1735 and later joining the Smock Alley Theatre to perform with the well known actor, David Garrick. She danced and acted at various Dublin theatres until her early twenties, when her reputation drew a handsome offer from John Rich, the manager of the Covent Garden Theatre, to perform on the stages of London. There, she found immediate success, in the role of Sylvia in The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar. A painting of Peg Woffington visiting a fictional poet called Triplet, painted by Rebecca Solomon, 100 years after the death of Woffington. She drew public attention when she was cast as Sir Harry Wildair in The Constant Couple. Audiences were intrigued, as at the time the role was highly associated with actor Robert Wilks, who had died seven years earlier. Nonetheless, her performance was well received, and audiences enjoyed her new interpretation of the role. She became well known as an actress thereafter. She performed at Drury Lane for several years and later returned to Dublin, appearing in a variety of plays. Her best-received performances were in comic roles, such as elegant women of fashion like Lady Betty Modish and Lady Townley, and breeches roles.

Though she was popular with society figures, having entertained such illustrious names as Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding, actress Kitty Clive. According to Garrick's biographer Thomas Davies, "No two women in high life ever hated each other more unreservedly than these two great dames of the stage." When she returned to Covent Garden, rivalries with these women and with the manager, Mr. Rich, eventually sent her back to Dublin, where she was unrivalled and celebrated at the Smock Alley Theatre. She also educated and supported her sister Mary (usually known as Polly), and cared for and pensioned her mother.

Woffington parted from Garrick around 1744, and thence moved to the Thameside Middlesex village of Teddington, into a house called 'Teddington Place' (the building was demolished in 1946, its former grounds now being occupied by Udney Hall Gardens park and St Alban's Church, Teddington). In 1754 she became the beneficiary of the will of the Irish impresario Owen Swiny. In 1756, she performed the part of Lady Randolph in Douglas, a part which found a later exponent in Sarah Siddons.

On 3 May 1757, she was playing the part of Rosalind in As You Like It when she collapsed on stage. She rallied, but would never act again, lingering with a wasting illness until 1760.

Death

She built and endowed by will some almshouses at Teddington, Though she was born into a Catholic family, she was buried a Protestant, having been received into the Church of Ireland on 31 December 1753. Woffington died a woman of wealth and had left most of her fortune to her sister, Mary.

Portraits Considered a society beauty of her era, Woffington was painted by several artists, including Jacobus Lovelace in 1744, Peter van Bleeck in 1747, and John Lewis in 1753. She was also eulogised in a poetical sketch by the dramatist Henry Jones.

She has been portrayed as a character in the stage plays A Laughing Matter by April De Angelis. and Mr Foote's Other Leg by Ian Kelly.

Popular culture In 1852 Charles Reade and Tom Taylor wrote a play Masks and Faces which featured Woffington as a central character. Following the play's success, Reade wrote a novel Peg Woffington in 1855. A play by Frances Aymar Mathews, Pretty Peggy (1902), starred Grace George as Woffington.

Woffington featured in several films, particularly in the silent era. These portrayals were largely based on the works of Reade and Taylor and include Peg Woffington (1910), Peg Woffington (1912) and Masks and Faces (1917). In 1935 Anna Neagle played Woffington in the comedy Peg of Old Drury with Cedric Hardwicke playing David Garrick. Her character appeared in the 2015 play Mr Foote's Other Leg as a friend and colleague of Samuel Foote.

Woffington is also mentioned in the Cyclops episode of James Joyce's Ulysses.

Woffington appears as the main character in the graphic novel La pièce manquante ("The Missing Play", 2023) by . Wanting to go down into history with a great role, she becomes interested in William Shakespeare's missing play The History of Cardenio when her manager and close friend Ignatius Sancho tells her about it. She and Sancho then go on a quest to find it, but they also discover interests that try to keep them away from the play – including David Garrick, who is both Woffington's competitor and unwelcomed suitor.