When Romeo Was a Woman

At the height of her career, Charlotte Cushman (1816-76) was considered America's greatest actress and one of the most famous women in the English-speaking world. Cushman challenged Victorian notions of gender in her stage portrayals of male characters and of strong, androgynous female characters. Offstage she was a powerful, independent businesswoman whose income supported her family, women lovers, and friends.

Lisa Merrill sheds new light on the actress's romantic and erotic relationships and, in turn, on our understandings of the nature of nineteenth-century women's "romantic friendships." She demonstrates how Cushman's androgynous presence served as a symbol to many of her contemporaries and revealed the period's multiple and often contradictory attitudes toward female performers, independent women, and the unspeakable possibilities of same-sex desire.

The biography draws on Cushman's personal correspondence, including letters and her diary, as well as on current critical work to examine Cushman's career, relationships, and post- humous reception. Merrill considers as autobiographical performance Cushman's own narratives, the stories she authorized others to write, and the letters she wrote to intimates. A rich selection of previously unpublished portraits of Cushman in her various stage roles, including Romeo and Lady Macbeth, and other revealing photographs of her family, lovers, and friends further enhance the biography.

When Romeo Was a Woman will find an appreciative audience among general readers as well as specialists in gay/lesbian history, women's history, theater and performance, popular culture, Victorian Studies, and American Studies.—Jacket