From Library Journal
This volume contains 24 interviews with actresses of the classical stage, television, and theater, as well as performance artists. The wonderful title alone indicates that Oddey (drama and theater studies, Univ. of Kent) is trying to cover a wide area, which works reasonably well. The interviews (ten to 14 pages each) are similar but different enough for each woman that one gets some understanding of each individual. One striking theme is how many of these actresses are mothers, juggling children, husbands, and careers. For each, Oddey is interested in how the actress sees "performance" on a personal scale: how she came to do it and what she takes from it and gives to it. She also asks everyone about the idea of actress as strumpet (in line with her subtitle), which gets a bit wearisome. This is, however, a small quibble. All in all, this is an enjoyable book if you're interested in the lives of actresses and aren't appalled at discovering how unglamorous it all is. Recommended for theater collections.DSusan L. Peters, Emory Univ. Lib., Atlanta
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Not that long ago, acting was considered equivalent to prostitution. Proper ladies never considered a career on the stage. Those that did became fallen women in the eyes of their peers. Alison Oddey takes the old prejudice as a jumping-off point for her fascinating, probing, intelligent interviews with contemporary female actors, performance artists, and stand-up comics. The fact that most of them aren't much known outside the U.K. should hardly matter to American readers, for Oddey coaxes unusual insights out of even the most obscure performers. (A few of her subjects are more widely known British and Irish actresses--Fiona Shaw, Miranda Richardson, Alison Steadman, Niamh Cusack.) Especially entertaining is the conversation with gifted comic actress Jane Horrocks, who played the sullen daughter in Mike Leigh's film Life Is Sweet and the wonderfully daft secretary on BBC-TV's Absolutely Fabulous. With a few short, sharp questions, Oddey gets Horrocks to reveal the smart, sensitive person behind the comic persona. For that alone, the book is worth reading. Jack Helbig
