through the 19th century, a roll call of legendary actors' names all but drown out the plays in which they appear: sarah siddons (1755–1831), john philip kemble (1757–1823), henry irving (1838–1905), and ellen terry (1847–1928). to be a star of the legitimate drama came to mean being first and foremost a "great shakespeare actor", with a famous interpretation of, for men, hamlet, and for women, lady macbeth, and especially with a striking delivery of the great soliloquies. the acme of spectacle, star, and soliloquy of shakespeare performance came with the reign of actor-manager henry irving and his co-star ellen terry in their elaborately staged productions, often with orchestral incidental music, at the lyceum theatre, london from 1878 to 1902. at the same time, a revolutionary return to the roots of shakespeare's original texts, and to the platform stage, absence of scenery, and fluid scene changes of the elizabethan theatre, was being effected by william poel's elizabethan stage society.