Book details

Charlotte

Being a True Account of an Actress's Flamboyant Adventures in Eighteenth-Century London's Wild and Wicked Theatrical World

Author: Kathryn Shevelow

Charlotte

Charlotte

$28.00

About This Book

Charlotte Charke's father, Colley Cibber, was one of the eighteenth-century's great actor/playwrights--and it was thought that the comedically gifted young Charlotte would follow in his footsteps...

Page Count
448
On Sale
02/21/2006

Book Details

Charlotte Charke's father, Colley Cibber, was one of the eighteenth-century's great actor/playwrights--and it was thought that the comedically gifted young Charlotte would follow in his footsteps at the legendary Drury Lane. However, Charlotte's habit of wearing men's clothes off stage as well as on, proved an obstacle to her career.

Kathryn Shevelow re-creates Charlotte's downfall from the heights of London's theatrical world to its lascivious lows (the domain of fire-eaters, puppeteers, wastrels, gender-bending cross-dressers, wenches, and scandalous sorts of every variety) and her comeback as the author of one of the first autobiographies ever written by a woman. Beyond the appealingly unorthodox Charlotte, Shevelow masterfully recalls for us a historical era of extraordinary stylishness, artifice, character, interest, and intrigue.

Imprint Publisher

Picador

ISBN

9780312425760

In The News

“Refreshingly frank.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Shevelow engagingly details Charlotte's adventures.” —The New Yorker

“This splendiferous recreation of the past is rich in period detail, and theater buffs will applaud.” —Publishers Weekly

“Shevelow's detailed, touching portrait revealed Charlotte to me as a rebel sister.” —The Advocate

About the Creators

Charlotte

Charlotte

$28.00