The Singularity of Theatrical Celebrity

Celebrity, the condition of being much talked about, is hardly an invisible phenomenon in the history of British theatre. On the contrary, its discourses constitute a silent yet pervasive presence in the accounts of performing lives through which that history has been written. Theatrical celebrity leaves behind many forms of material evidence: plays, anecdotes, photographs, cartoons, programmes, reviews, portraits and costumes. But despite its ubiquity, the nature of celebrity on and off the stage has scarcely begun to be addressed.