The First Actresses: Gender, Representation and Performance

This specialist academic conference will develop themes raised in the exhibition The First Actresses: Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons. Speakers, including Professors Felicity Nussbaum (UCLA) and Joseph Roach (Yale), will explore and problematise ideas of ‘celebrity’ culture and the symbolic, allegorical and discursive functions of portraits of women players. Focusing on visual representation, the conference will bring together the research skills of international specialists in the different disciplines of theatre and performance studies, literature, music history and art history, deploying innovative interdisciplinary approaches in the understanding of portraiture and its historical meanings.

Includes tea and coffee, entrance to the exhibition and wine reception. Delegates will also have the opportunity to purchase the exhibition catalogue, by Gill Perry with essays by Joseph Roach and Shearer West, at the special conference price of £20 (RRP £30).

£35 / £30 Concessions / £20 Students

In partnership with The Open University