Jewish Women on Stage, Film, and Television

It is no coincidence that many of the most celebrated female performers throughout both the 19th and 20th centuries women widely considered to represent the spirit of their times were Jewish. Mock traces a lineage that stretches from the first international stage stars, Rachel of the Comedie-Francaise and Sarah Bernhardt, to stars of film and television such as Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and Roseanne. In a unique enquiry, this book embraces issues of gender, sexuality, race, class and nationality through the figure of the Jewish woman to show how a very specific marginal identity has transformed mainstream cultures.

Roberta Mock is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Plymouth where she also teaches Theatre & Performance. In addition to publishing articles focusing on gender, sexuality and performance in a range of journals, she is the editor of Performing Processes: Creating Live Performance (2000), Walking, Writing & Performance (2007), and a series of performance texts and theatre writing (all published by Intellect Books). Having made physical theatre for over a decade with the company she co-founded, Lusty Juventus, she is now developing solo performance events.