For this World Theatre Day, two images from our Woodward Collection showing the famous 18th century actress Sarah Siddons at the height of her success.
Here she is in 1782 as Euphrasia from the play The Grecian Daughter, by Arthur Murphy:
And here in her most famous role of Lady Macbeth, which she first performed on 2 February 1785. It was with this role that she bade farewell to the stage on 29 June 1812, when the audience refused to allow the play to continue after Lady Macbeth’s final scene, and Sarah Siddons returned to the stage to take her applause and give an emotional farewell speech.
There are many other Shakespeare drawings in our Woodward collection, and do remember that you’re welcome to adopt any one of them.
Derbyshire Record Office 