Performing Women

ALISON ODDEY is Professor of Theatre and Contemporary Performance at Loughborough University, UK. As a broadcaster, she wrote and presented the BBC Radio 4 series 'Stand-ups and Strumpets'. Book publications include Shifting Directions, a new kind of theatre-making in the Twenty-first century, The Potentials of Spaces, Performing Women and Devising Theatre. She guest edited a special issue of 'Practice as Research' for Contemporary Theatre Review and is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Peer Review College for Performance and Live Art.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Acronyms Preface to the Second Edition PART I: PERFORMING WOMEN PART II: HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS PART III: STAND-UPS, STRUMPETS AND ITINERANTS Jenny Eclair Niamh Cusack Imogen Stubbs Josette Simon Meera Syal Jane Horrocks Kathy Burke Marianne Jean-Baptiste Heather Ackroyd Jo Brand Imelda Staunton Juliet Stevenson Kathryn Hunter Fiona Shaw Dawn French Miranda Richardson Victoria Wood Penelope Wilton June Whitfield Sheila Hancock Brenda Blethyn Alison Steadman Julie Walters Bobby Baker Janet McTeer Naomi Frederick Geraldine James PART IV: WHY PERFORM?: THEMES ARISING FROM INTERVIEWS Selected Bibliography Index