No Room of Her Own: The Erotics of the Nineteenth-Century Actress's Dressing-Room

Abstract

Although their backstage activities had been a source of titillation from the time women first appeared on the public stage (see Hogarth's Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn), in the nineteenth century actress's dressing-rooms became a distinct site of libidinous fantasy. In the major European and American playhouses, star dressing-rooms were suites that approximated the rococo boudoir. This study explores how the dressing-room became a fixture in the erotic mentalité of the period, and, in the process, crystallised the image of the actress as sequestered divinity engaged in mysterious rites of glamour, camouflaging the corruption beneath. The chief examples are Édouard Morin's paintings of Hortense Schneider, Zola's novel Nana, and both the play and opera Zaza, with a note on Colette's female gaze at the subject.