Mary Fenton

Mary Fenton was born in Landour near Mussoorie in India to Jannette, an Eurasian, and Mathew Fenton, an Irish retired soldier of the British Indian Army. She was baptized as Mary Jane Fenton, but there is no further information of her early life and education. She already knew Hindi and Urdu, and in the 1870s Khatau gave her further training in singing and acting. However, following a dispute between Khatau and the Empress Victoria Theatrical Company owner Jahangir Pestonjee Khambatta regarding Fenton's entry into theatre in 1878, Khatau left Bombay for Delhi and joined Alfred Theatre Company owned by Manek Master who also opposed Fenton. Consequently, Khatau started his own Alfred Company in 1881, where Fenton had a long and successful career. ==Career==

She was the first Anglo-Indian actress of the Parsi, Gujarati, and Urdu theatre. She acted in Nanabhai Ranina's Nazan Shirin (1881), Bamanji Kabra's Bholi Gul (Innocent Flower, 1882, based on Ellen Wood's English novel East Lynne), Agha Hasan Amanat's Urdu opera Inder Sabha, Khambatta's Khudadad (The Gift of God, 1898, based on Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre), Gamde ni Gori (Village Nymph, 1890), Alauddin (1891), Tara Khurshid (1892), Kaliyug (1895) Her role of Jogan in Gopichand was much appreciated. She had later worked with Framji Apu's theatre company and changed several theatre troupes thereafter. Mary Fenton is believed to have died at the age of 42, probably in 1896. Hence, she was probably born in 1854 and had met Khatau in 1878. Her introduction in the Parsi theatre opened the way for a large number of Jewish and Anglo-Indian actresses which dominated the early stage, as well as the films of the silent era of India. == In popular culture ==

Drama Queen (2018) was a play written and directed by Neeyati Rathode, and produced by Blue Feather Theatre based on her life and other early female actresses. Mehrin Saba played Mary Fenton. ==References==