Stella Colas as 'Juliet'

A carte-de-visite portrait of the French actress Stella Colas of the Comédie Française and the Opéra-Comique.

Mlle Colas made her London debut as Juliet in June 1863, with Walter Montgomery as Romeo.

A review of Montgomery’s London debut (as Othello at the Princess’s Theatre) in the Times on 22 June 1863 concluded with a paragraph informing readers that ‘Much curiosity is excited by the announcement that Mademoiselle Stella Colas, a French actress, first esteemed as an ingénue at the Théâtre Français, and afterwards highly renowned at St Petersburg, will appear at the Princess’s on Wednesday next as Juliet in Shakespeare’s tragedy, which she will play in English.’

Three days later a brief review stated that ‘Mademoiselle Stella Colas, the French actress, about whom there has been much curiosity in theatrical circles, made her first appearance last night in Garrick’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The play did not terminate till nearly midnight, and we content ourselves at present with the statement that she achieved a genuine success in the presence of an audience at once remarkable for its density, its brilliancy, and its enthusiasm.’

A longer review, which appeared on 6 July, spoke in glowing terms of ‘a faultless embodiment of a grand conception.’ ‘Within the memory of the present generation of playgoers Mademoiselle Colas is the first actress who has given the notion of a thoroughly girlish Juliet. […] The foreign accent of the artist cannot disguise the fact that she completely apprehends the meaning of all the strong words with which the soliloquy abounds and her quick intelligence is only exceeded by her force. […] The admiration excited by the performance of Mademoiselle Colas will be increased when the fact is known that a few weeks since she could scarcely pronounce English at all.’

Photographed by the Southwell Brothers of London.