Lucia Elizabeth (Bartolozzi) Vestris

Lucia Elizabeth (Bartolozzi) Vestris , 1797-1856, English actress and manager, the first woman to be a lessee of a theater. The daughter of a music and fencing teacher, she made an unsuccessful marriage at 16 to Armand Vestris, her ballet master. Following her debut (1815) in Italian opera, she acted at the Comédie Française with Talma, who suggested to her the ideas on realism in costuming that she was later to develop. After her success as Don Giovanni in a burlesque of Mozart's opera in 1820, Vestris became known for her natural style as a ballad-singing comedienne in light opera and in breeches parts (male roles). Not satisfied with contemporary methods of production, she leased the Olympic Theatre, London, in 1831, and was an instant success as manager and director. At great expense, she redecorated the theater and used realistic stage settings and real props; she was perhaps the first to use the box set complete with ceiling. Vestris produced Shakespearean comedies, with attention to text and historical accuracy, as well as burlesques and farces. She married Charles James Mathews in 1838 on the eve of what was to be an unsuccessful American tour and from 1839 to 1842 managed Covent Garden with him. In 1841 they produced Boucicault's London Assurance. In 1847 they took over the Lyceum, where they introduced French plays to England.

Bibliography: See R. Gilder, Enter the Actress (1931); W. W. Appleton, Madame Vestris and the London Stage (1974).

Vestris, Lucia Elizabeth (née Bartolozzi) (b London, 1797; d London, 1856). Eng. cont. Opera début London 1815. Sang at It. Opera, Paris, and King's Th., London, 1821–5. Wife of Auguste Armand Vestris, one of celebrated ballet family, who was ballet master at King's Th. 1809–17. Sang in Eng. f.ps. of several Rossini operas at King's Th. 1821–4. Frequently sang in Dublin, 1824–47. Created Fatima in Weber's Oberon, 1826. Became manager of CG 1839–42, having previously managed Olympic Th. 1831–8 and subsequently the Lyceum 1847–55, with her 2nd husband Charles Matthews. Sang male roles, incl. Don Giovanni.

Vestris, Mme [née Lucia Elizabetta Bartolozzi (or Lucy Elizabeth Bartolozzi)] (1797–1856), English actress, the wife of the French ballet-dancer Arm- and Vestris, who deserted her in 1820. As Mme Vestris, she had a distinguished career on the London stage. Although an excellent singer, she preferred to appear in light entertainment rather than grand opera, and was at her best in burlesque or as the fashionable ladies of high comedy. She played in Paris for several years with great success and then appeared in London, playing alternately at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. In 1830 she took over the Olympic Theatre, opening with Olympic Revels, by Planché, who furnished her with a succession of farces and burlesques both at this theatre and later at the Lyceum. During her tenancy of the Olympic she took into her company the younger Charles Mathews, marrying him in 1838, and the rest of her career ran parallel to his. She was an excellent manageress, effecting a number of reforms in theatre management and many improvements in scenery and effects. She was one of the first to use historically correct details in costume, anticipating the reforms of Charles Kean, was responsible for the introduction of real properties instead of fakes, and in 1832 introduced the box-set, complete with ceiling, on to the London stage.