Abstract
This essay explores the physicality of celebrity. It demonstrates how the act of embodying power – the tangible, physical presence of fame – merges personality and accomplishment: the performative body becomes the accomplishment, simultaneously the expression of and reason for an actor’s celebrity. Public intimacy is mediated through the body and constructed in specifically gendered ways. By focusing on the famous ‘parts’ – both bodily and repertory – of the celebrity actors Nell Gwyn and Colley Cibber, the essay illustrates how the actor’s body provided access to the celebrity’s ‘self’ while simultaneously shaping the celebrity persona.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Intimacy and Celebrity in Eighteenth-Century Literary Culture |
| Subtitle of host publication | Public Interiors |
| Editors | Emrys Jones, Victoria Joule |
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Chapter | 1 |
| Pages | 13-34 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9783319769011 |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Jun 2018 |
Keywords
- celebrity
- theatre history
- gender
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Dive into the research topics of 'Nell Gwyn's Breasts and Colley Cibber's Shirts: Celebrity Actors and their Famous 'Parts''. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
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Professor Elaine M McGirr
- Department of Theatre - Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies
Person: Academic