Anne Marie Milan Desguillons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anne Marie Milsn Desguillons
Born Anne Marie Milan
1753
Died 1829 (aged c.76 )
Spouse(s) Joseph Sauze Desguillons

Anne Marie Milan Desguillons, (1753-1829), was a French actor active in Sweden. She also became director of the theatre school Dramatens elevskola and had great influence over the development of the Swedish theatre.

[edit] Biography

Anne Marie Milan debutated in Le Havre 1773, played in Lille 1774-1775 and arrived to Sweden from France in the French troupe of Jacques Boutet de Monvel, who was summoned to Sweden by king Gustav III of Sweden to educate the Swedish actors in the French acting technique of the time in the foundation of the first real Swedish-speaking theatre in 1781.

She remained in the troop for eleven years, and in 1789 married her colleague Joseph Sauze Desguillons, a French actor from the same troupe. She was not a beauty, but described as heavily overweight, but she was both respected and liked, especially by the royal court.

She was foremost a tragedienne and performed in tragedys and mére noble-parts such as Merope, Semiramis and Athalie, but she also did comedys, such as madame Turcaret.

In 1792 the French troup were fired and she ended her career as an actor, but remained in Sweden and between 1793 and 1798 she was principal for Dramatens elevskola jointly with her husband; she was responsible for the female students, her husband for the mael students, and together they developed many of the Swedish talents within the countrys theaterhistory. Though Dramatens elevskola had ben founded in 1787, six years before she and her husband had been its head-masters, the two Desguillons were responsible for organising the school.

The student was accepted at the age of nine or ten and performed as child-actors and at student-plays and among them was many of the greatest talents of the time such as Jeanette Wässelius, Sofia Frodelius, Ulrika Wennerholm and Carolina Kuhlman-Åbergsson. The two Desguillons was insturctors in acting; for the song, Johann Christian Friedrich Hæffner and later L. Piccini was hired, for dance Julie Alix de la Fay and Jean Marcadet.

When Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden hired a French troup to play in 1803, the Desguillons couple soon lead this troup during their stay until 1806.

She was one of the most successful of the many French actors employed in Sweden in the 18th century.

[edit] See also

[edit] Source

Languages