Historians of British theater have often noted that the eighteenth century was an age not of the author but of the actor. In Rival Queens, Felicity Nussbaum argues that the period might more accurately be seen as the age of women in the theater, and more particularly as the age of the actress.

Rival Queens
Actresses, Performance, and the Eighteenth-Century British Theater

Felicity Nussbaum

2010 | 376 pages | Cloth $55.00
Literature | Women's/Gender Studies
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Table of Contents

Introduction: At Stage's Edge
Chapter 1. The Economics of Celebrity
Chapter 2. "Real, Beautiful Women": Rival Queens
Chapter 3. Actresses' Memoirs: Exceptional Virtue
Chapter 4. Actresses and Patrons: The Theatrical Contract
Chapter 5. The Actress and Performative Property: Catherine Clive
Chapter 6. The Actress, Travesty, and Nation: Margaret Woffington
Chapter 7. The Actress and Material Femininity: Frances Abington
Epilogue: Contracted Virtue

Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments