Anne Marshall

Anne Marshall (fl. 1661 – 1682), also Mrs. Anne Quin, was a leading English actress of the Restoration era, one of the first generation of women performers to appear on the public stage in Britain. [John Harold Wilson, "All the King's Ladies: Actresses of the Restoration", Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1958.]

John Downes, in his "Roscius Anglicanus" (1708), reports that Anne Marshall among the initial group of actresses employed by manager Thomas Killigrew with his King's Company. She has been nominated as possibly the "first English actress," the Desdemona in the performance of "Othello" on 8 December 1660. [Elizabeth Howe,"The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660–1700", Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; p. 24.] [Rosamond Gilder, "Enter the Actress: The First Women in the Theatre", Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1931; p. 166.] [See: Margaret Hughes; Katherine Corey.] Marshall certainly played Desdemona in later performances.

Marshall is thought to have played Zempoalla in the Dryden/Howard collaboration "The Indian Queen" in 1664. She is known to have played the following roles with the King's Company:

* Celia in Jonson's "Volpone"
* the Lady in Beaumont and Fletcher's "The Scornful Lady"
* Evadne in "The Maid's Tragedy"
* Margarita in Fletcher's "Rule a Wife and Have a Wife"
* Edith in "Rollo Duke of Normandy"
* Celia in "The Humorous Lieutenant"
* Almeria in Dryden's "The Indian Emperour"
* Mrs. Double-Diligence in Wilson's "The Cheats"
* Celestina in Sir William Killigrew's "The Siege of Urbin".

Anne Marshall married an actor named Peter Quin, or Gwyn, probably in 1665; she resumed her stage career as Mrs. Quin once the theatres re-opened after the plague epidemic and the Great Fire of 1665–66. She played:

* Candiope in Dryden's "The Maiden Queen"
* Aurelia in "An Evening's Love"
* Alizia Pearce in Boyle's "The Black Prince".

Marshall retired from the stage in 1668; but she resumed her career nine years later, this time with the rival Duke's Company under Thomas Betterton. With that troupe, her first role was Angelica Bianca in Aphra Behn's "The Rover" in March 1677. (Coincidently, Marshall had been cast in the same role in the abortive all-female production of Thomas Killigrew's "Thomaso" in 1664.) She also played:

* Lady Knowell in Behn's "Sir Patient Fancy"
* Lady Squeamish in Otway's "Friendship in Fashion"
* Queen Elizabeth in Banks's "The Unhappy Favourite"
* Sunamira in Southerne's "The Loyal Brother"

— and other parts. [Wilson, "All the King's Ladies", pp. 168-70.]

Anne Marshall had a younger sister, Rebecca Marshall, who also was a noted actress in the same era. [J. H. Wilson, "The Marshall Sisters and Anne Quin," "Notes and Queries", New Series, Vol. 4 (March 1957), pp. 104-6.] Their father was a clergyman, the chaplain of Lord Gerard. [Deborah Payne Fisk, "The Restoration Actress," in: "A Companion to Restoration Drama", Susan Owen, ed., London, Blackwell, 2001; p. 75.] Samuel Pepys mentions both Marshalls frequently in his Diary. The sisters played together at least once, in "The Maiden Queen".

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