Rebecca Marshall (fl. 1663 – 1677) was a noted English actress of theRestoration era, one of the first generation of women performers on the public stage in Britain.[1] She was the younger sister ofAnne Marshall, another prominent actress of the period.[2]
The younger Marshall sister began acting with theKing's Company, under the management ofThomas Killigrew, around 1663; she remained with that troupe for her full career, except for a final year with the rivalDuke's Company in 1677. She acted with her sister Anne at least once, inJohn Dryden'sThe Maiden Queen in 1664; Anne played Candiope, and Rebecca played the Queen. When her older sister retired from the stage (temporarily) in 1668, Rebecca inherited several of her roles, as Aurelia in Dryden'sAn Evening's Love and Nourmahal inAureng-zebe; she may also have inherited the part of Evadne inBeaumont and Fletcher'sThe Maid's Tragedy. Rebecca Marshall's other roles were:
— among other parts, including spoken prologues and epilogues for various dramas. She participated in two of Killigrew's famous all-female productions, of his ownThe Parson's Wedding and Beaumont and Fletcher'sPhilaster, both in 1672.[3]
Rebecca Marshall formed a "remarkable acting combination" with fellow performerElizabeth Boutell, first in William Joyner'sThe Roman Empress in 1670. Their success inspired a fashion for plays of "women in conflict," in which Marshall was usually the villainess (or at least the darker half of the pairing), and Boutell the virtuous heroine. They enacted this pattern inThe Conquest of Granada, also in 1670: Marshall was Lyndaraxa to Boutell's Bezayda. And again, with Marshall as Poppea and Boutell as Cyara inNathaniel Lee'sThe Tragedy of Nero (1674); as Queen Berenice and Clarona inJohn Crowne'sThe Destruction of Jerusalem (1677); and as Roxana and Statira in Lee'sThe Rival Queens (also 1677).[4]
The "women in conflict" play reached beyond Marshall and Boutell: the rival Duke's Company competed with its own actress pairing,Mary Betterton and Mary Lee; andElizabeth Barry andAnne Bracegirdle repeated the pattern in the 1680s and '90s.[5] In her one season with the Duke's Company, Rebecca Marshall was cast against Barry in a rare comic version of the pattern, inThomas d'Urfey'sA Fond Husband.
Samuel Pepys repeatedly refers to both Marshall sisters in his Diary; he calls the younger "Beck Marshall." Rebecca had a reputation as a beauty, which apparently caused her difficulties: she twice petitioned KingCharles II for protection from obstreperous men in her audience.[6] She had a habit of feuding withNell Gwyn.[7]