Bringing together leading British, North American, and Italian critics, this collection makes a crucial intervention in the reclamation of women's theatrical activities during the Romantic period. As they examine key figures like Elizabeth Inchbald, Joanna Baillie, Elizabeth Vestris, and Jane Scott, the contributors take up topics such as women's history plays, ethics and sexuality, the politics of drama and performance, and the role of women as managers and producers.

Contents: Introduction, Lilla Maria Crisafulli and Keir Elam; Part I Historical Drama and Romantic Historiography: Baillie, Mitford, and the 'different track' of women's historical drama on the romantic stage, Greg Kucich; Historical agency in romantic women's drama, Lilla Maria Crisafulli; Hannah More's and Ann Yearsley's Anglo-Saxon history plays, Cecilia Pietropoli; Historical sieges in women's romantic drama: Felicia Hemans, Joanna Baillie and Frances Brooke, Serena Baiesi; Felicia Hemans, Schillerian drama, and the feminization of history, Gary Kelly. Part II Dramaturgical and Cultural Processes: The erotics of home: staging sexual fantasy in British women's drama, Catherine Burroughs; When Mitford met Baillie: theatre, sociability and the networks of women's romantic drama, Diego Saglia; Dramatic theory and critical discourse in Elizabeth Inchbald's Remarks on The British Theatre, Franca Dellarosa; Elizabeth Inchbald: translation as mediation and re-writing, Vita M. Mastrosilvestri; Negotiating voices in romantic theatre: Scottish women playwrights, gender and performativity, Gioia Angeletti. Part III Women Staging, Women Staged: Inchbald, Holcroft and the censorship of Jacobin theatre, Jane Moody; From darkness to light: science and religion on Joanna Baillie's stage, Isabella Imperiali; Poses and pauses: Sarah Siddons and the romantic theatrical portrait, Claudia Corti; When 'poetry and stage do agree together': Elizabeth Vestris's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Stefania Magnoni; Bibliography; Index.