Author Description

The New Woman was the feminist of the 1890s. In her so-called "rational" dress with her cigarettes, bicycle and bobbed hair she was instantly recognisable to her contemporaries. For many, the actress embodied the New Woman. She had already achieved a measure of social and economic independence by working, professionally, in the theatre and had begun to challenge prevailing expectations of female behaviour. This book looks at the ways in which women, in a period of increasing feminist activity, used the stage to subvert dominant male views of women in British society at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Individual essays focus on the actress and other female performers including daredevil artists, opera singers, writers and theatre managers. The topics covered include cross-dressing; male appropriation of images of the New Woman in theatrical and cinematic texts; circus performance; music hall and "straight" theatre; and theatre management and empowerment.