Elizabeth Polack

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Elizabeth Polack, playwright, "the first Jewish woman melodramatist in England" (Franceschina), was active in London between 1830 and 1838. Neither the dates of her birth, nor her death, are known.

Only two of the five plays with which she is credited survive. Esther, an exotic "Eastern" melodrama, was successfully produced in 1835 at the Pavillion Theatre, Mile End in the East End of London (the Pavillion was later a centre for Yiddish theatre in London). St. Clair of the Isles; or, The Outlaw of Barra (1838), was less successful.

Nothing is known of Pollack after 1838.

[edit] Plays

• Alberti; or, The Mines of Idria (lost)
• Angeline; or, The Golden Chain (lost)
• Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman
• St. Clair of the Isles; or, The Outlaw of Barra
• Woman's Revenge (attributed to John Howard Payne)

[edit] Etexts

• Esther, The Royal Jewess. Ed. with an Introduction by John Franceschina. British Women Playwrights around 1800. 15 October 2000.

[edit] References

Franceschina, John. "Introduction to Elizabeth Polack's Esther." British Women Playwrights around 1800. 15 October 2000. 11 pars.