The Cambridge Companion to the Actress

Maggie B. Gale is Chair in Drama at the University of Manchester. John Stokes is Professor of Modern British Literature in the Department of English, King's College London.

• Introduction Maggie B. Gale and John Stokes; Part I. Turning Points: 1. Revolution, legislation and autonomy Gilli Bush-Bailey; 2. Spectacle, intellect and authority: the actress in the eighteenth century Elizabeth Eger; 3. Cultural formations: the nineteenth-century touring actress and her international audiences Gail Marshall; 4. The actress as photographic icon: from early photography to early film David Mayer; 5. The actress and the profession: training in England in the twentieth century Lucie Sutherland; 6. 'Out of the ordinary': exercising restraint in the post-war years John Stokes; 7. Icons and labourers: some political actresses Tony Howard; Part II. Professional Opportunities: 8. The actress as manager Jo Robinson; 9. By herself: the actress and autobiography, 1755–1939 Viv Gardner; 10. The screen actress from silence to sound Christine Gledhill; 11. 'Side doors and service elevators': racial constraints for actresses of colour Lynette Goddard; Part III. Genre, Form and Tradition: 12. Mirroring men: the actress in drag Jacky Bratton; 13. 'Studies in hysteria': actress and courtesan, Sarah Bernhardt and Mrs Patrick Campbell Elaine Aston; 14. Beyond the muse: the Spanish actress as collaborator Maria M. Delgado; 15. Going solo: an historical perspective on the actress and the monologue Maggie B. Gale; 16. Changing Shakespeare Penny Gay.

'From an impressive group of scholars, the essays are distinguished by a consistent effort to move beyond traditional critical and artistic boundaries and offer original investigations of the actress and the systems, conventions, and communities that contributed to a career.' Theatre Survey