Marie Madeleine de Montaigu (née Le Croix) (1692–1736) was a Danish actor. She was employed first as a court-actor, and later became one of the first female actors to perform on a Public theatre in Denmark.
Biography
Marie le Croix was born in Denmark as the child of parents of French origin. In 1715, she married Rene Magnon de Montaigu (1661–1737), the director of
La troupe du Roi de Danemark La troupe du Roi de Danemark, or ''Roi de Danemark'' for short, was a French-speaking Danish court theatre, active at the Royal Danish court from 1682 until 1721. It was the only permanent theater in Denmark during its tenure.
The first French thea ...
, the French troupe that performed for the royal court, and the year after, she became a member of the trope and employed as court-actor.
In 1721, the French troupe, which had performed for the royal court in Copenhagen since 1682, fired by the king, who wished to hire an Italian Opera-trope instead. The French actors, who in many cases had lived there for generations, did not all wish to leave Denmark. Rene Magnon and another French immigrant, Etienne Capion, then asked permission to open a Public theatre. They were given royal permission and in 1722, the first Public theatre was opened in Copenhagen on
Lille Grönnegade, the first theatre open to the public in the Danish language.
Capion was the director, Magnon was responsible for the actors, and Marie Madeleine became the first actress to have performed for the Danish Public on an official theatre. The female actors were few; among them were also Helene le Coffre, Maren Magdalene Lerche and Marie Madeleines own dotter Frederikke Sophie.
In 1728 the theatre was closed and Madeleine and her husband lived under difficult circumstances as French language-teachers.
See also
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Lisbeth Cathrine Amalie Rose
Lisbeth Cathrine Amalie Rose née Böttger (25 September 1738 – 23 February 1793) was a Danish actress, one of the first professional native actresses in Denmark, and also referred to as the greatest actress in 18th century Denmark. She was als ...
*
Anine Frölich
References
External links
Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon
Danish stage actresses
18th-century Danish actresses
1692 births
1736 deaths
Danish people of French descent
{{Denmark-actor-stub