The Incomparable Hester Santlow: A Dancer-Actress on the Georgian Stage

Moira Goff makes the most of limited resources to offer a good account of Hester Santlow's career. Her treatment of Santlow as an actress is convincing, and the dances come alive in her descriptions. One gets a real sense of the talented performer for whom they were written. Judith Milhous, CUNY Graduate Center, USA In the first full-length account of the English dancer-actress Hester Santlow, Moira Goff traces this remarkable woman's career at Drury Lane between 1706 and 1733. Making extensive use of archival resources, Goff demonstrates Santlow's unique contribution to the development of dance on the London stage, and examines Santlow's fascinating personal life, including her relationships with the politician James Craggs the Younger and the Drury Lane actor-manager Barton Booth. In the first full-length study of the English dancer-actress Hester Santlow, Moira Goff focuses on her unusual career at Drury Lane between 1706 and 1733. Goff charts Santlow's repertoire and makes extensive use of archival resources to investigate both her dancing and acting skills. Santlow made a unique contribution to the development of dance on the London stage, through her dancing roles in dance dramas by John Weaver and pantomimes by John Thurmond and Roger, as well as the virtuoso dances created for her by Mr. Isaac and Anthony L'Abbé. Goff examines Santlow's fascinating personal life, including her relationships with the politician James Craggs the Younger and the Drury Lane actor-manager Barton Booth. Santlow was unusual in making the transition from successful dancer-actress to independent and respectable widow. Goff also traces her life after retirement as her daughter's family rose from the gentry towards the aristocracy. This book will be of interest to dance and theatre historians, to women's studies scholars, and to all who are engaged with ongoing debates on the lives and careers of women on the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stage. Contents: Preface; The young dancer, 1694?-1709; Dancer and actress, 1709-1712; James Craggs; Theatre rivalries, 1713-1715; 'Dramatic entertainments of dancing', 1715-1719; Barton Booth; Business as usual, 1719-1723; Mimes and pantomimes, 1723-1728; 'The incomparable Mrs Booth', 1728-1733; 'Happy beyond expression', 1733-1773; Appendix: glossary of 18th-century dance terms; Bibliography; Index. About the Author: Moira Goff researches, reconstructs and performs European theatre and ballroom dancing of the early eighteenth century. She is also a curator of rare books at the British Library, London, UK.