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

by 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812223012
• ISBN13: 9780812223019
• Release Date: December 2013
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.6" x 8.7"