Gender Play in Nineteenth-Century Theater

Theatrical performance implicitly asks a lot of important social questions, many of which we may not realize or have at front of mind when we sit down with a prosecco or a box of popcorn. When is performance worthy of esteem? What is high art and what is lowbrow? What’s funny, and why? What social norms do we agree on, and should art reinforce them?

This dynamic of social questioning is true now, but it was especially pronounced in the nineteenth century. As theater entered the mass-media age...