Irish beginning On 27 May 1814, Smithson made her first stage appearance at the
Theatre Royal (Dublin), as Albina Mandevill in
Frederick Reynolds's
The Will.
Success in Paris In 1827, Smithson made her Paris début as Lydia Languish in
The Rivals at the
Odéon theatre. Though she received negative reviews for this role, she was highly praised for her beauty and ability in the subsequent performance of
She Stoops to Conquer. The tremendous success of
Hamlet led to that of
Romeo & Juliet, for 15 September. Smithson was cast as
Juliet, where she revolutionized the women's role in theatre by becoming as important as her male counterpart, Romeo. On 18 September, Shakespeare's
Othello became the third Shakespeare tragedy to be performed by The English Theatre. Her performance as
Desdemona was less effective, but the production was popular enough to be repeated the week after. However, just seven days after her next performance as Juliet, in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet, the press, including
The Examiner, gave her glowing reviews: Miss Smithson's performance of Juliet, take it as a whole, is by many degrees the best we have seen since the days of Miss O'Neil…She is the best tragic actress now in London. She appeared as Belvidera in
Venice Preserved and as Mrs. Simpson in
Simpson and Co on the Lincoln Circuit at the Peterborough theatre between 27 June and 2 July 1831. After Covent Garden closed for the summer in 1832, Smithson toured minor theatres in England, performing almost exclusively in tragedies. In June 1832, she joined the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, where she had limited success and received criticism about her weight.
End of career In 1830, Smithson went back to Paris to set up an English theatre under her own management. She obtained permission to perform at the Theatre-Italien where she performed several unsuccessful plays. A year later, she broke her leg and was forced to put her career on hold until her leg healed. She was now in great debt, yet her mother and sister still depended on her for support. She gave her last performance, as Ophelia, on 15 December 1836, before her health deteriorated. ==As a muse==