Review of the hardback: 'Stokes has drawn on such splendidly evocative accounts of the plays and players that one almost feels that one was present at some of these - in modern terms - extraordinarily brave and advanced stagings of French drama in London.' The Times Literary Supplement

For centuries English and French theatrical traditions have had an uneasy relationship with one another: mutual admiration, mutual envy, mutual distrust. Just as the fascination of difference lies in the potential for sameness, so these opposed traditions have observed each other at close quarters and invited each other back home. In this unusually detailed and carefully illustrated book, John Stokes explores the reception of the French actress by the English audiences, from the early nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth - a period when the relationship between England and France was transformed and redefined. Mlle Mars, Sarah Bernhardt and Edwige Feuillere are among the many actresses invoked; prominent English spectators include William Hazlitt, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde. The result is a vivid coming together of theatre history and cultural studies, and will appeal to scholars of English and French literature as well as students of acting.

Introduction: the golden age of acting
1. Mademoiselle Mars, the English and romantic love
2. Rachel's 'Terrible Beauty': an actress among the novelists
3. Memories of Plessy: Henry James re-stages the past
4. Dejazet/deja vu
5. The modernity of Aimee Desclee
6. A kind of beauty: Rejane in London
7. Peacocks and pearls: Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt
8. The greatest actress in the world: Edwige Feuillere and her admirers.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]