When the body comes on stage, how does it play? And how do spectators read it? Enter the Body offers a series of provocative case studies of the work women's bodies do on Shakespeare's intensely body-conscious stage. Carol Chillington Rutter looks at: *Ophelia in the grave *Cordelia in Lear's arms *Cleopatra's blackness *Helen of Troy's beauty. Rutter's topics are sex, death, race, gender, culture, politics, and the excessive performative body that exceeds the playtext it inhabits. She focuses on performances domestic and iconic - Emilia gossiping, Cressida handing over her glove. As well as drawing upon vital primary documents from Shakespeare's day, Rutter then offers close readings of women's performances on stage and film in Britain today, from Peggy Ashcroft's (white) Cleopatra and Whoopi Goldberg's (whiteface) African Queen to Sally Dexter's languorous Helen and Alan Howard's raver Queen of Troy. Zoe Wanamaker, Imogen Stubbs, Jean Simmons, Helena Bonham-Carter, Janet Suzman, Kate Winslet and Claire Benedict put in appearances in this theatrically sophisticated study.
