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Rosalind and the Nineteenth-Century Woman: Four Stage Interpretations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

Patty S. Derrick
Patty S. Derrick
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of English at the University of Maine at Fort Kent
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Extract

The nineteenth-century theatregoer in America and in England enjoyed a wonderful diversity of acting styles and roles among the actresses of the period. To be sure, it was an age of the womanly ideal, when playing Juliet appealed to every young actress. Perhaps too many aspired to the youthful, feminine charms of Juliet, for one disgusted New York critic complained that “40,000 American girls were doing the Balcony Scene that ought to be doing the family dishes.” Other roles such as Paulina, Galatea, and Parthenia thrived on the Victorian stage, male theatre critics applauding the feminine virtues of gentility and grace, loyalty, delicate humor, and occasional submissiveness. Interestingly, another sort of female role became extremely popular during this time: the breeches role.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , November 1985 , pp. 143 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1985

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References

NOTES

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