Rosa Cooper (1829 – 4 September 1877) was an English actor and manager, popular in Australia.

History

Cooper was married to actor Lionel Harding;[lower-alpha 1] the two frequently appeared on stage together.[2]

They first appeared on the Australian stage at the Theatre Royal, Ballarat on 23 November 1863 in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Aurora Floyd,[3] followed by Bendigo in December 1863 with the drama Catherine Howard; or, the Throne, the Tomb, and the Scaffold, with Cooper as Howard, betrothed and secretly married to Percy, Duke of Northumberland, played by Harding.[4]

In 1869 Harding, Habbe and Wilson refurbished Sydney's Alexandra Hall, renaming it the Theatre Royal Adelphi. Among the plays that opened there was Cooper's production of H. J. Byron's The Lancashire Lass on 23 July 1870, an Australian premiere.[5]

She was particularly noted for her Lady Isabel in East Lynne.[6]

She returned to Ballarat in October 1874 with an excellent supporting cast, for a strenuous 6-week program of quality drama, but barely met expenses, leading the Melbourne Herald's critic to pour scorn on the town's artistic taste.[7]

She was ailing when she left Australia by the RMSS Pera in 1875,[8] and died of cholera in India[9] shortly after being released from hospital.

Notes

  1. ↑ Born William Lionel Man (7 December 1832 – 30 March 1904), Harding was an English actor and stage manager with rumored links to the aristocracy. He was a friend of Lord Belmore, the Governor of New South Wales, and a welcome guest at Government House.[1]

References

  1. ↑ "Mummer memoirs". Sydney Sportsman. Vol. IX, no. 517. New South Wales, Australia. 4 May 1910. p. 3. Retrieved 11 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Music and the Drama". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XIX, no. 469. New South Wales, Australia. 4 January 1879. p. 15. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "The Star". The Star (Ballarat). Vol. VIII, no. 280. Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 31 May 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Lyceum Theatre". Bendigo Advertiser. Vol. X, no. 2665. Victoria, Australia. 9 December 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "Music and the Drama". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XIX, no. 469. New South Wales, Australia. 4 January 1879. p. 15. Retrieved 11 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Theatre Royal Adelaide". The Australasian. Vol. XXIII, no. 606. Victoria, Australia. 10 November 1877. p. 17. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "The Lounger". The Herald (Melbourne). No. 8907. Victoria, Australia. 9 November 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 31 May 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "The Stage". The Weekly Times (Melbourne). No. 310. Victoria, Australia. 14 August 1875. p. 9. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "Cooper, Rosa". AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
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