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Elizabeth Polack was an
Few historical records survive which detail Elizabeth Polack's life. Although neither the year nor place of her birth, nor her death, are now known, evidence of her activity as a playwright in
Elizabeth Polack
" ''Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''. Ed. Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge UP, n.d. 22 Mar. 2013. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022. *Conway, David (2012). ''Jewry in Music''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Franceschina, John.
. ''British Women Playwrights Around 1800'', 11 paragraphs. 15 October 2000. * *
Open access
Internet Archive) *Carruthers, Jo. "Melodrama and the ‘art of government’: Jewish emancipation and Elizabeth Polack’s ''Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman!''" ''Literature & History'' Volume 29, Issue 2 (November 2020):144–163. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9125-4297 https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197320945947
PDF/EPUB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polack, Elizabeth Jewish women writers English Jews English dramatists and playwrights British women dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers 19th-century deaths Jewish theatre Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown Jewish dramatists and playwrights
English
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playwright of the 1830s, notable for being the first Jewish woman melodramatist in England.Weltman, p. 204.
Life and works
Few historical records survive which detail Elizabeth Polack's life. Although neither the year nor place of her birth, nor her death, are now known, evidence of her activity as a playwright in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
between 1830 and 1838 remains. Contemporary records credit her with five plays, only two of which, ''Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman
Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite or Haman the evil) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as Xerxes ...
'' and ''St. Clair of the Isles; or The Outlaw of Barra
Barra (; gd, Barraigh or ; sco, Barra) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by a short causeway. The island is nam ...
'', have survived.
''Alberti; or the Mines of Idria'' was performed at the Royal Pavilion on 10 May 1834 is believed to be by Polack. At the time, this play was incorrectly advertised as ''Alberti, or, the Mines of India'' in some publications.
''Esther'', with a story taken from the Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
, a version of the tradtitonal Jewish ''Purimshpil
A Purim spiel (also spelled Purimshpil, yi, פּורימשפּיל, , see also spiel) or Purim play is an ensemble of festive practices for Purim. It is usually a comic dramatization of the Book of Esther, the central text and narrative that de ...
'' and considered in its time to be a type of an "Exotic East" melodrama, was successfully produced in 1835 at London's Royal Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel
The Pavilion Theatre at 191–193 Whitechapel Road, London, was the first major theatre to open in London's East End. It was destroyed by fire in 1856 and rebuilt as the New Royal Pavilion Theatre, which operated until 1935.
History
The theatr ...
in the East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
Conway, p. 104 (the Pavilion was later a centre for Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic ...
in London). Her ''St. Clair'', however, based on an 1803 novel by Elizabeth Helme, met, when it debuted at the oyalVictoria Theatre in 1838, with a modest reception. It is apparently the source of the melodramatic cliché, "Foiled again!"
Polack's presumed aunt (or perhaps mother), Maria Polack, was one of the first Anglo-Jewish novelists. Polack may have also been related to Joel Samuel Polack
Joel Samuel Polack (28 March 1807 – 17 April 1882) was an English-born New Zealand and American businessman and writer. He was one of the first Jewish settlers in New Zealand, arriving in 1831. He is regarded as an authority on pre-colonial New ...
, author of two well-received travel books about New Zealand. Joel's biographer writes that he lived with his sister in Piccadilly when he first returned to England; that sister may have been Elizabeth.Franceschina, 1997. Such a family background would have offered support to her writing career, even from her position within a marginalized community.
Plays by Elizabeth Polack
*''Alberti; or The Mines of Idria'' (no copy known to exist) *''Angeline; or The Golden Chain'' (no copy known to exist) *''Woman's Revenge'' (1832; attributed by some sources toJohn Howard Payne
John Howard Payne (June 9, 1791 – April 10, 1852) was an American actor, poet, playwright, and author who had nearly two decades of a theatrical career and success in London. He is today most remembered as the creator of "Home! Sweet Home ...
)
*''Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman'' (1835)
*''St. Clair of the Isles; or The Outlaw of Barra'' (1838)
Notes & references
Notes
References
*Brown, Susan, et al.Elizabeth Polack
" ''Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''. Ed. Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge UP, n.d. 22 Mar. 2013. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022. *Conway, David (2012). ''Jewry in Music''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Franceschina, John.
. ''British Women Playwrights Around 1800'', 11 paragraphs. 15 October 2000. * *
Further reading
*Bennett, Susan. "Genre trouble: Joanna Baillie, Elizabeth Polack — tragic subjects, melodramatic subjects." ''Women and playwriting in nineteenth-century Britain''. Eds. Tracy C. Davis and Ellen Donkin. Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 215–232.Open access
Internet Archive) *Carruthers, Jo. "Melodrama and the ‘art of government’: Jewish emancipation and Elizabeth Polack’s ''Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman!''" ''Literature & History'' Volume 29, Issue 2 (November 2020):144–163. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9125-4297 https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197320945947
PDF/EPUB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polack, Elizabeth Jewish women writers English Jews English dramatists and playwrights British women dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers 19th-century deaths Jewish theatre Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown Jewish dramatists and playwrights