Early years Vanbrugh was born in
Exeter, Devon, on 2 December 1872, the youngest daughter and fifth child of six of the Rev Reginald Henry Barnes,
Prebendary of
Exeter Cathedral and Vicar of
Heavitree, and his wife, Frances Mary Emily, Nation, daughter of a
barrister. Irene's eldest sister
Violet and younger brother
Kenneth also made theatrical careers. Irene recalled Thorne as an excellent teacher, adding, "We played every kind of play there; comedy, farce, and drama of the deepest dye; while at Christmas there came the
pantomime, so that the
Juliet of a week ago might be the Prince Paragon of the Yule-tide extravaganza." As a student her first appearance on stage was in August 1888, as the capricious shepherdess Phoebe in
As You Like It at the Theatre Royal, in a cast led by Violet as Rosalind.
Early roles Lewis Carroll, a college friend of Vanbrugh's father, saw her performing in Margate and was impressed. On his recommendation she made her London début in December 1888, playing the White Queen and the
Knave of Hearts in a revival of
Alice in Wonderland at the old
Globe Theatre. Her sister Edith joined her in this production. Some of Violet's early theatrical work had been with
J. L. Toole. Irene emulated her and joined his company in 1889, playing in established comedy successes including
Dion Boucicault's
Dot and
H. J. Byron's ''Uncle Dick's Darling''. Vanbrugh remained a member and played her first original roles and as Bell Golightly in Barrie's comedy
Walker, London (1892), which ran for 497 performances.
First West End successes '', 1895: l. to r.
Allan Aynesworth,
Evelyn Millard, Vanbrugh and
George Alexander|alt=group of four young white adults, standing in an outdoor stage setting, two men and two women, in late Victorian dress, all wearing hats. The two women are in the middle and are cautiously embracing each other, while the men look on. Although she was happy in Toole's company, by 1893 Vanbrugh felt the need to widen her experience. She joined
Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the
Haymarket Theatre as the serving-maid Lettice in
The Tempter (1893) by
Henry Arthur Jones. The play was not popular and was taken off after 73 performances; in 1894, after three more productions in Tree's company, she was engaged by
George Alexander at the
St James's Theatre. There she had more success in Jones's next play,
The Masqueraders, in a supporting role to Alexander and
Mrs Patrick Campbell in the leads. In Alexander's company she played Fanny in
Henry James's drama
Guy Domville, which closed after 32 performances, and in 1895 created the role of the Honourable Gwendolen Fairfax in
The Importance of Being Earnest. When
Arthur Bourchier, who had married Violet Vanbrugh, launched himself as an
actor-manager in 1895, Irene joined them at the
Royalty Theatre and on tour, winning good notices as Dulcie in
The Chili Widow and in the title role of the comedy
Kitty Clive. son of his more famous
namesake. They had met while Vanbrugh was in Australia with Toole's touring company, and for six months they were together in Hare's highly successful American tour, playing in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago. Boucicault proposed to her while
Trelawny of the Wells was playing in London, but she did not accept him straight away and they were not married until three years later. '', 1899|thumb|upright|alt=young, dark-haired white woman, seated, wearing late Victorian clothes In 1899 Vanbrugh played the role that made her name – Sophy Fullgarney in Pinero's
The Gay Lord Quex. The play was regarded as risqué, and one critic commented that had Lewis Carroll still been alive, he would have approved of "Miss Vanbrugh's greatest triumph" but probably not of the play. The couple frequently appeared together for the rest of Boucicault's life, and he became her manager in 1915. They had no children.
Alice-Sit-by-the Fire (1905), In the second of these she had an adverse review. In
The Saturday Review Max Beerbohm contrasted Vanbrugh with her co-star, Ellen Terry, whom Beerbohm thought more attuned to Barrie's childlike innocence, whereas with Vanbrugh, "Her personality is in no way Barrieish. She looks, indeed, quite young enough for her part; but her soul is not childish enough." The three Pinero plays starring Vanbrugh in this period had mixed fortunes. Her own notices for
Letty (1903) were excellent, but the play closed after 64 performances.
His House in Order (1906) was a considerable success for Vanbrugh, Alexander and Pinero, running for 430 performances. Her performance in
Mid-Channel (1909) was highly praised, but the play was not, and closed after 58 performances. which ran for 72 and 76 performances respectively. She also starred in new plays by
Charles Haddon Chambers (
Passers-By, 1911) and
A. E. W. Mason (
Open Windows, 1913). Away from the
West End theatre, Vanbrugh went on the
music-hall stage with Barrie's one-act play
The Twelve-Pound Look in 1911, co-starring with
Edmund Gwenn in a
variety bill in which
W. C. Fields also appeared. Over the next four years she appeared in other Barrie pieces –
Half an Hour and
Rosalind – and Maugham's
The Land of Promise, In 1913 Vanbrugh played Lady Gay Spanker in a revival of Boucicault senior's
London Assurance in an all-star cast including Herbert Tree,
Charles Hawtrey, Arthur Bourchier,
Weedon Grossmith and
Marie Tempest. This was one of the many charity fund-raising productions in which Vanbrugh appeared throughout her career, such as a starrily cast
The School for Scandal in 1915 in which she played Lady Teazle to Tree's Sir Peter. (l), Vanbrugh and
Lillah McCarthy in
Somerset Maugham's comedy
Caroline, 1916|alt=three young white women, standing, arms linked, wearing lavish costumes of mid-1910s
First World War During the war Vanbrugh played a succession of leading roles in the West End, beginning with The Spirit of Culture in Barrie's war play (1914). Following this, she played Lady Falkland in a
melodrama,
The Right to Kill (1915); the title role in Maugham's comedy
Caroline (1916); Mrs Lytton in a crime drama,
The Riddle (1916); Emily Ladew in the comedy ''Her Husband's Wife'' (1916); Leonora in Barrie's
Seven Women (1917); and the title role in
A.A.Milne's
Belinda (1918). the following year she starred in two more silent films,
Masks and Faces, playing
Peg Woffington, and
The Gay Lord Quex, as Sophy, with
Ben Webster as Quex and a supporting cast that included
Lilian Braithwaite,
Margaret Bannerman and
Donald Calthrop. She told a journalist, "Film acting is a delightful experience, but for me it can never take the place of the stage." She did not return to films until 1933. From its early days, Vanbrugh was closely connected with the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Her younger brother,
Kenneth Barnes, had been its principal since 1909. The 1917 film of
Masks and Faces had been made at her instigation to raise funds for the academy's partly completed theatre and she gathered a star cast, including not only leading actors but the playwrights
Bernard Shaw, Pinero and Barrie in cameo appearances.
Inter-war years , in
The Truth About Blayds, 1922|thumb|left|alt=Dark haired white woman, seated in a drawing room with older, white haired white man standing before her and showing her a piece of paper Vanbrugh's first big stage success of the post-war years was in Milne's
Mr Pim Passes By in 1920. among which were
Belinda, ''Miss Nell o' New Orleans
, The Truth About Blayds, The Second Mrs Tanqueray, His House in Order
, The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith, Trelawney of the Wells
, and Mr Pim Passes By''. The couple returned to Britain in January 1926. After a pre-London tour in the comedy
All the King’s Horses, Vanbrugh and
Allan Aynesworth starred in the piece at the
Globe Theatre. At the
Playhouse in June she resumed the title part in a revival of
Caroline and at the
Comedy Theatre the following January she played the Baroness della Rocca in
Alfred Sutro's comedy
The Desperate Lovers. Returning to
music hall in April 1927 she played Clarissa Marlow in a short comedy by Milne, at the
London Coliseum,
Miss Marlow at Play. She and Boucicault then returned to Australia for another tour, but he became ill and the couple returned to England, where he died at their house in
Hurley, Berkshire, on 25 June 1929. During the run of
Operette Vanbrugh celebrated her golden jubilee as an actress with a gala charity matinee at His Majesty's attended by
the Queen. Violet Vanbrugh, Coward,
Edith Evans,
Gladys Cooper,
Seymour Hicks and many other leading performers took part. The matinee raised , which Vanbrugh donated to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and the Theatrical Ladies' Guild.
Later years During the
Battle of Britain in 1940 the Vanbrugh sisters carried out what Littlewood calls "a characteristic piece of war work" by giving, with
Donald Wolfit, lunchtime performances at the
Strand Theatre of extracts from
The Merry Wives of Windsor Throughout the war, Vanbrugh appeared in the West End and on tour in new plays, revivals of her earlier successes, and classics. Almost 50 years after her first appearance in a Wilde play, she played Lady Markby in
An Ideal Husband in 1943–1944, giving a performance characterised by
The Times as "comic perfection". Vanbrugh was working to the end of her life. In early November 1949 she appeared in
Mary Bonaventure in its pre-London run but was taken ill before the West End opening and died on 30 November 1949, shortly before her 77th birthday.
Honours and commemorations Vanbrugh was created a
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1941. After her death, the new theatre for the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art was named the Vanbrugh Theatre in honour of Vanbrugh and her sister. The theatre, located in
Gower Street, London, was opened in 1954 by
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. At a matinee marking RADA's golden jubilee in 1954, in the presence of Irene Vanbrugh's brother,
Sir Kenneth Barnes, who was still the principal of the academy, Edith Evans read a poem by
A. P. Herbert in which Vanbrugh was celebrated among the leading names of British theatre. Herbert wrote: All the great names that give our past a glow,
Bancroft and
Irving, Barrie and Boucicault, Vanbrugh and
Playfair,
Terry,
Kendal,
Maude,
Gilbert and
Grossmith loudly we applaud. ==Notes, references and sources==