Women, Theatre and Performance
2 total works
Drawing on feminist cultural materialist theories and historiographies, ‘Treading the bawds’ analyses the collaboration between actresses Elizabeth Barry and Anne Bracegirdle and women playwrights such as Aphra Behn and Mary Pix, and traces a line of influence from the time of the first theatres royal to the rebellion that resulted in the creation of a player’s co-operative.
Bush-Bailey offers a fresh approach to the history of women, seeing their neglected plays in the context of performance. By combining detailed analysis of selected plays within the broader context of a playhouse managed by its leading actresses, Bush-Bailey challenges the received historical and literary canons, including a radical solution to the mysterious identity of the anonymous playwright ‘Ariadne’. It is a story of female collaboration and influence with the spotlight focused on the very public world of women in the commercial business of theatre.
This unique book contains the never before published script of the first ever one-woman show, written by Fanny Kelly. The script was performed in Britain in the 1830s and 40s, based on Kelly’s own experiences and offers a picture of the exuberant and often bizarre Georgian entertainment world.
The performance text is introduced, edited and explained by Gilli Bush-Bailey, who focuses 21st-century revisionist scholarship on Kelly’s story. It is an innovative contribution to the modern debate on biographical and autobiographical writing, whilst also being a valuable text for those who wish to study comedy and women’s performance. The materials and methods of the modern stand-up routine are already to be seen in this unusual text.
This book will appeal to students and scholars who are involved in performance, theatre history, or biography. It is also an accessible text for the interested general reader.