Gilli Bush-Bailey: Treading the Bawds. Actresses and Playwrights on the Late-Stuart Stage

In the opening paragraph of Treading the Bawds the author describes the foyer of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, with its statues and plaques dedicated to preserving the memory of the many men – from Thomas Killigrew to Andrew Lloyd Webber – whose professional history is bound up with that of the playhouse. Perhaps ironically, it is the pub across the street from the theatre that memorializes the career of Nell Gwynn, the actress and mistress of King Charles II, who had performed in the original playhouse. Yet despite this, the prospects for readers seeking well-written histories of the late Stuart theatre scene, along with the actresses whose careers were established there, seem to be improving all the time. Similar to its predecessors in this new series (published by Manchester University Press), Treading the Bawds calls for both new methodologies and new histories that will restore women to the history of the English stage. The book under review here succeeds in providing a vivid account of the women who intersected – as actresses, playwrights, theatre managers and theatre owners – particularly in the period between 1660 and the early years of the eighteenth century – when the English theatre industry had to be rebuilt following the eleven years of the Puritan Commonwealth.

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