Charlotte: Being a True Account of an Actress's Flamboyant Adventures in Eighteenth Century London's Wild and Wicked Theatrical World 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 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.Read More