After graduating, Rhéa came to the attention of Charles Fechter, who in turn introduced her to Madame Samson, remembered as an acting instructor who worked with Rachel Felix.

The following season Rhéa began a two-year engagement playing principle young woman roles at the Théâtre-Français, Rouen, that led to a successful tenure at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, and a subsequent tour of French provinces.

Rhéa, who had once met the tsar, witnessed the attack as she watched his carriage pass below the windows of her rehearsal studio just moments before Nikolai Rysakov threw the first bomb.

With limited English language skills and only a month's preparation, on 10 June 1881, she made her London debut at the Gaiety Theatre playing Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing.

Rhéa's repertory during this period included, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Camille, Pygmalion and Galatea, David Garrick's The Country Girl, A Dangerous Game,[6] The School for Scandal, Frou-Frou by Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac, The Case Vidal,[7] and L'Aventurière, a comedy by Émile Augier.

[10] In February 1898 the press reported that for the upcoming season Rhéa would join forces with Louis James and Frederick Warde in a tour that would mostly feature works by William Shakespeare.