• List of illustrations; List of contributors; Acknowledgments; Introduction Tracy C. Davis and Ellen Donkin; Part I. In Judgment: 1. The sociable playwright and representative citizen Tracy C. Davis; 2. 'To be public as a genius and private as a woman': the critical framing of nineteenth-century British women playwrights Gay Gibson Cima; 3. Mrs Gore gives tit-for-tat Ellen Donkin; Part II. Wrighting the Play: 4. Jane Scott the writer/manager Jacky Bratton; 5. Illusions of authorship Jane Moody; 6. Sara Lane: questions of authorship Jim Davis; Part III. Staging the State: Joanna Baillie's 'Constantine Paleologus' Beth H. Freidman-Romell; 8. 'The Lady Playwrights' and 'The Wild Tribes of the East': female dramatists in the East End theatres, 1860–80 Heidi J. Holder; 9. 'From a female pen': the proper lady as playwright in the West End theatre, 1823–44 Katherine Newey; Part IV. Genre Trouble: 10. Genre trouble: Joanna Baillie, Elizabeth Polack - tragic subjects, melodramatic subjects Susan Bennett; 11. Sappho in the closet Denise A. Walen; 12. Conflicted politics and circumspect comedy: women's comic playwriting in the 1890s Susan Carlson; Index.

'This collection … fulfils its promises to the reader, not only by contributing a substantial body of knowledge and criticism on the topic of the title but by raising many general theoretical issues that future scholars will ignore at their peril.' Brett Ashley Crawford, Theatre Research International

• List of illustrations; List of contributors; Acknowledgments; Introduction Tracy C. Davis and Ellen Donkin; Part I. In Judgment: 1. The sociable playwright and representative citizen Tracy C. Davis; 2. 'To be public as a genius and private as a woman': the critical framing of nineteenth-century British women playwrights Gay Gibson Cima; 3. Mrs Gore gives tit-for-tat Ellen Donkin; Part II. Wrighting the Play: 4. Jane Scott the writer/manager Jacky Bratton; 5. Illusions of authorship Jane Moody; 6. Sara Lane: questions of authorship Jim Davis; Part III. Staging the State: Joanna Baillie's 'Constantine Paleologus' Beth H. Freidman-Romell; 8. 'The Lady Playwrights' and 'The Wild Tribes of the East': female dramatists in the East End theatres, 1860–80 Heidi J. Holder; 9. 'From a female pen': the proper lady as playwright in the West End theatre, 1823–44 Katherine Newey; Part IV. Genre Trouble: 10. Genre trouble: Joanna Baillie, Elizabeth Polack - tragic subjects, melodramatic subjects Susan Bennett; 11. Sappho in the closet Denise A. Walen; 12. Conflicted politics and circumspect comedy: women's comic playwriting in the 1890s Susan Carlson; Index.

'This collection … fulfils its promises to the reader, not only by contributing a substantial body of knowledge and criticism on the topic of the title but by raising many general theoretical issues that future scholars will ignore at their peril.' Brett Ashley Crawford, Theatre Research International

• List of illustrations; List of contributors; Acknowledgments; Introduction Tracy C. Davis and Ellen Donkin; Part I. In Judgment: 1. The sociable playwright and representative citizen Tracy C. Davis; 2. 'To be public as a genius and private as a woman': the critical framing of nineteenth-century British women playwrights Gay Gibson Cima; 3. Mrs Gore gives tit-for-tat Ellen Donkin; Part II. Wrighting the Play: 4. Jane Scott the writer/manager Jacky Bratton; 5. Illusions of authorship Jane Moody; 6. Sara Lane: questions of authorship Jim Davis; Part III. Staging the State: Joanna Baillie's 'Constantine Paleologus' Beth H. Freidman-Romell; 8. 'The Lady Playwrights' and 'The Wild Tribes of the East': female dramatists in the East End theatres, 1860–80 Heidi J. Holder; 9. 'From a female pen': the proper lady as playwright in the West End theatre, 1823–44 Katherine Newey; Part IV. Genre Trouble: 10. Genre trouble: Joanna Baillie, Elizabeth Polack - tragic subjects, melodramatic subjects Susan Bennett; 11. Sappho in the closet Denise A. Walen; 12. Conflicted politics and circumspect comedy: women's comic playwriting in the 1890s Susan Carlson; Index.

'This collection … fulfils its promises to the reader, not only by contributing a substantial body of knowledge and criticism on the topic of the title but by raising many general theoretical issues that future scholars will ignore at their peril.' Brett Ashley Crawford, Theatre Research International