In her chapter on "Women Pioneers" in Feminism and Theatre, Sue-Ellen Case comments on the lack of biographical information available for pre-twentieth-century women writers and concludes that "the invisibility of their biographies suppresses valuable knowledge about the experience and models of women in theatre. Though 'firsts' seem to be important in dominant histories, 'first women' do not" (44). Such sentiments are especially resonant in the case of Elizabeth Polack, the first Jewish woman melodramatist in England.

Elizabeth Polack is credited with the authorship of five plays, only two of which survive: Alberti; or, The Mines of Idria, Angeline; or, The Golden Chain (both lost), Woman's Revenge (attributed to John Howard Payne), and the melodramas Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman, and St. Clair of the Isles; or, The Outlaw of Barra. I have been unable to locate any references to Alberti or Angeline other than an advertisement of the plays on the title page of Duncombe's edition of Esther [1835]. A French play called Angeline; or, La champenoise by Armand d'Artois appeared in 1819 and Angeline by John Thomas Haines was published in 1837, two years after Polack's play was advertised. Neither of these involve a golden chain, either literally or metaphorically, in the dramatic action. On the title page of St. Clair of the Isles published by James Pattie in 1838, Miss Polack was cited as the authoress of Woman's Revenge along with Esther, the Royal Jewess. Because a holograph copy of Payne's manuscript in existence in the Harvard collection corresponds exactly to the Lord Chamberlain's copy of Woman's Revenge, in a copyist's hand, it is difficult to dispute Payne's claim to authorship. Was Payne's play, produced thirty times at the Olympic Theatre beginning 27 February 1832, borrowed from Elizabeth Polack, or did Miss Polack try to capitalize on a familiar title? The fact that Woman's Revenge was not advertised with the publication of Esther in 1835 almost certainly implies that it was written later than Payne's play, for thirty performances at the Olympic during Madame Vestris's management would definitely have attracted some attention.

The "Eastern Melodrama" Esther was produced on 7 March 1835 at the Pavilion Theatre, one of the more notable theatres of London's "East End," famous for "Virtue-Victorious-and-Villainy-Vanquished" melodrama throughout the nineteenth century and at the turn of the century becoming the permanent home of "Yiddish" drama in London (Ellis 173). Converted from a clothing factory opposite the London Hospital, Shoreditch, the Pavilion Theatre opened on 10 November 1828 under the management of Wyatt and Farrell. In an elaborate proclamation heralding their enterprise, Wyatt and Farrell announced that

Because of its proximity to the Jewish quarter of London, the theatrical fare at the Pavilion was designed to appeal to a proletarian working-class audience whose tastes—gravitating to the sentimental, patriotic, and moral—seemed much less "sophisticated" than that of audiences patronizing the more fashionable West-end theatres. A.E. Wilson quotes an anonymous critic writing in 1843 about the hazards of attending plays at the Pavilion:

The implied anti-Semitism of the critic's remarks is not untypical of the period. Figaro in London especially was fond of denigrating Jewish managers and the Jewish sector during the years 1835-1836. In fact, the advertisement for Polack's play in the 21 March 1835 issue read: "The Pavilion and the Garrick [another East-End theatre] are running a race to gain the favour of Petticoat Lane and Rosemary Lane [the Jewish sector], by the production of 'Esther' and 'Ahasuerus.' We cannot but anticipate a sublime treat in seeing 'the ould closh' in all their glory, and shall attend the spectacle" (52). The following week, Figaro in London dismissed the production of Polack's play in a single paragraph: "We disgraced ourselves by a visit to the Pavilion the other evening. Such trash as Ahasuerus, and such actors and actresses are below notice, and actually degrade the profession. Richardson would not allow such men to parade his show front in Bartholomew Fair, in Smithfield" (54).

The actors and actresses condemned by the review included several luminaries of the minor London theatres: Charles Freer (Haman), Mrs. Wingrove (Vashti), Cobham (Mordecai), Mrs. Harvey Lewis (Esther), and George Dibdin Pitt (Ahasuerus). Although there are few contemporary accounts of the performance, Lloyd's Miniature Portraits in King Ahasuerus show the actors in elaborate eastern costumes sustaining archetypal melodramatic postures. That these should be especially singled out for scorn is due perhaps to a growing critical aversion to melodrama rather than an indictment of specific actors' abilities.

In many ways, Elizabeth Polack's Esther is the quintessential "Eastern" melodrama. It is filled to the brim with exotic detail, as the stage directions for the first scene of the play suggest:

What follows in three acts is a fairly historical account of the story of Esther, the Jewish bride of the Persian King Ahasuerus. Through her nobility of soul (as well as her physical beauty) she saves her people from the evil machinations of the villain, Haman, the king's favorite. It is interesting to note that the play appeared at a time when Jews were beginning to take a great part in English public life. In 1830, Jews were allowed to become Freemen of the City. In 1835, Sir David Salomons, a founder of the Westminster Bank, was elected one of the two City Sheriffs. Since Salomons was a Jew, Parliament had to create a law to permit him to take office without swearing a Christian oath ("Sheriff's Declaration Act"). Later that same year, Parliament permitted Jews to vote without swearing a Christian oath and, in 1837, the University of London was founded to admit students regardless of their religious beliefs. The Gentleman's Magazine also records that in May 1835, a "panoramic view of the city of Jerusalem" had been painted by Mr. Burford (3:522) and that later in November, an "operatic drama, entitled The Jewess...was received with great enthusiasm" (4:644).

What sets Esther apart from other melodramas of this genre is the centrality of Jewish (rather than Turkish) ritual and the emphasis on a woman as hero of the piece. Both of these elements converge in the final speech of the play—typically reserved for the male hero, or masculine symbol of restored order—where Queen Esther exalts in her victory as well as her people:

A transparency descends illustrating the word, "Purim!" and the curtain falls on a grand tableau. Although Miss Polack's play is not the first English drama to treat this story, it is the first to emphasize Jewish ritual. Thomas Brereton's Esther; or, Faith Triumphant, a translation of Racine's Esther, published in 1715, and John Collett's Esther, printed in 1806, were both Christian interpretations of the Bible story. Neither were performed.

In Getting into the Act, Ellen Donkin reports that, while a theatre manager's approval was necessary for any author, male or female, to get a play produced, among women, "the sense of debt appears to have extended well beyond the practicalities of editing and producing, and to have worked its way into the creative mechanism itself" (26-27). This appears to have been the case between Polack and Farrell. But at a time when mentoring between managers and playwrights was marked by "conflict, disobedience, or adversarial behavior" (Donkin 27), a display of public gratitude such as the dedication of a play must have been most advantageous to the author's career. It is quite tempting to infer some sort of romantic liaison between the male manager and female playwright but I have not been able to document any non-professional relationship between them. It is especially important to note, I think, that Elizabeth Polack exemplifies the pattern suggested by Ellen Donkin for escaping the "impostor syndrome" in which a woman writer feels completely dependent upon the manager's creative support (27). Miss Polack had a play produced successfully and went on to reap the fruits of her reputation. Unlike other women writers discussed by Donkin, Polack appears never to have experienced difficulty in maintaining a psychological distance from her mentor because her career as a playwright was never tied to a single theatre, and thus never controlled by a single individual.

Three years later, Elizabeth Polack produced a Scottish Historical melodrama entitled St. Clair of the Isles; or, The Outlaw of Barra, based on the 1803 novel by Elizabeth Helme, and produced for three weeks beginning 16 April 1838 at the [Royal] Victoria Theatre. In this Gothic play, the Jewish exoticism of Esther is replaced by tournaments and Scottish tartans but the theatrical splendor and dialect humor of both plays suggest Farrell's continuing influence on Polack's work. Evidently the production of the play at the Victoria was below standard. George Rowell argues that between 1834 and 1842, the Royal Victoria was only barely surviving: managers were in constant flux, established actors were hard to come by, and litigation from the Patent Houses was a constant threat (33-34). It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Miss Polack's play was outfitted in dirty costumes and performed by third-rate actors in front of dilapidated scenery. Critics were kind to the authoress but the play was never revived.

Works Cited:

• [Anon.] "Fine Arts: Panorama of Jerusalem." The Gentleman's Magazine 3 New Series (January—June 1835): 522.
• [Anon.] "New Royal Pavilion Theatre." Illustrated London News 6 November 1858: 430.
• [Anon.] "Theatrical Register: Drury Lane." The Gentleman's Magazine 4 New Series (July—December 1835): 644.
• [Anon.] "Theatricals." Figaro in London 21 March 1835: 52.
• [Anon.] "Theatricals." Figaro in London 28 March 1835: 54.
• [Anon.] "Theatricals." Figaro in London 4 June 1836: 92.
• [Anon.] "Theatricals." Figaro in London 27 August 1836: 144
• Alderman, Geoffrey. London Jewry and London Politics 1889—1986. London and New York: Routledge, 1989.
• Booth, Michael R. English Melodrama. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1965.
• Case, Sue-Ellen. Feminism and Theatre. New Directions in Theatre Series, ed. Julian Hilton. Houndmills, Basingstroke, Hampshire and London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1988.
• Donkin, Ellen. Getting into the Act: Women Playwrights in London 1776—1829. London: Routledge, 1995.
• Ellis, Anthony L. "The East-end Jew at his playhouse." Pall Mall Magazine 41 (1908): 173—179.
• Helme, Elizabeth. St. Clair of the Isles. London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1867.
• Polack, Elizabeth. Esther, the Royal Jewess; or, The Death of Haman! London: J. Duncombe, [1835].
• ———. St. Clair of the Isles; or, The Outlaw of Barra. London: James Pattie, [1838].
• Rowell, George. The Old Vic Theatre: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Wilson, A.E. East End Entertainment. London: Arthur Barker Ltd., 1954.