12 Facts About Signora Violante

Signora Violante was a rope-dancer, acrobat, commedia dell'arte actor and theatre company manager.

Signora Violante was Italian or French, and was active as a performer from 1720.

Signora Violante was married to an Italian, Senor Violante, a rope-slider.

Signora Violante is known as Madam Violante and Mrs Violante in 18th century sources.

Signora Violante's children were among the performers in her troupe.

In 1727 Signora Violante is said to have danced on the tight rope with swords tied to her legs, a child balanced on her shoulders, and two children on her ankles.

Signora Violante performed The Rivals in Bristol in the summer of 1728, where her husband Senor Violante slid on a rope across the River Severn, from St Vincent's Rocks in Clifton, a distance of 550 yards in thirty seconds, before a crowd of spectators.

Signora Violante had a large impact on the Dublin theatre scene of the early 18th century.

Signora Violante worked in Dublin for three theatre seasons, during which time, in 1730, Violante and her principal dancer Lalauze established the Dame Street Booth, a rival to the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley in Dublin.

Signora Violante then travelled to Edinburgh where she lived in Carruber's Close.

One show was a pirated version of The Beggar's Opera, the cast of which included Peg Woffington, whom Signora Violante "discovered" as a child, carrying water to her mother's wash-house, and subsequently coached.

In 1735 Signora Violante settled in Edinburgh, where she rented the lower floor of the hall of the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel from 1738 and continued to perform as a rope-dancer, and ran a dance school.