Rival Queens: Actresses, Performance, and the Eighteenth-Century British Theater
Felicity Nussbaum
In eighteenth-century England, actresses were frequently dismissed as mere prostitutes trading on their sexual power rather than their talents. Yet they were, Felicity Nussbaum argues, central to the success of a newly commercial theater. Urban, recently moneyed, and thoroughly engaged with their audiences, celebrated actresses were among the first women to achieve social mobility, cultural authority, and financial independence. In fact, Nussbaum contends, the eighteenth century might well be called the "age of the actress" in the British theater, given women's influence on the dramatic repertory and, through it, on the definition of femininity.
Treating individual star actresses who ... Read more
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About Felicity Nussbaum
Reviews for Rival Queens: Actresses, Performance, and the Eighteenth-Century British Theater
TLS
"[Rival Queens] has vital ramifications not only for a renewed study of the eighteenth-century theater but also for our understandings of the performance of gender and, specifically, femininity across the period."
Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
"A pleasure to read, with a deft balance of anecdote and theory, statistical data and narrative. Nussbaum, an ... Read more