Reeve found considerable success on tour in Australia, South Africa, America and other places in pantomime, variety and vaudeville in the new century.

[5] When she was 14 years old, Reeve's father's health failed, and she was left to support her family, so she began working as a music hall performer, finding immediate success.

She starred as Robin Hood and later Maid Marion in Williamson's pantomime Babes in the Wood, drawing popular and critical praise.

[4] However, the marriage with Gilbert had turned sour, with Reeve claiming extreme cruelty and petitioning for divorce while still in Australia.

On the return sea journey to Britain, Reeve was forced to appeal to the captain of the ship for protection from him.

Later that year, she created the role of Lady Holyrood in the musical comedy Florodora at the Lyric Theatre.

Reeve joined the cast of the hit musical San Toy, in 1901, playing Dudley and later taking over the title role from Marie Tempest.

[7] Late in the year, she succeeded Evie Greene in the title role of "Kitty Grey", followed by Ada Branscombe in Three Little Maids, in 1902.

[4] Reeve remarried in 1902 to Wilfred Cotton, a manager and actor who was the uncle of Lily Elsie.

In 1905, she played the title role in The Adventures of Moll on tour and appeared in Birmingham again as Aladdin in the Christmas pantomime.

She played the title role in the 'Christmas 1908 and 1909 pantomimes of Jack and the Beanstalk, with George Robey as her stage mother.

[9] The film's central premise is a reversal of traditional gender roles, in which Reeve plays a domineering wife who smokes a cigar and departs for her club while her husband sits at home embroidering.