Bibliograph

Playing to the gods, Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the rivalry that changed acting forever, Peter Rader

Type

Label

Playing to the gods, Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the rivalry that changed acting forever, Peter Rader

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-264) and index

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

platesillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Playing to the gods

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1006810622

Responsibility statement

Peter Rader

Sub title

Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the rivalry that changed acting forever

Summary

"Audiences across Europe and the Americas clamored to see the divine Sarah Bernhardt swoon--and she gave them their money's worth. The world's first superstar, she traveled with a chimpanzee named Darwin and a pet alligator that drank champagne, shamelessly supplementing her income by endorsing aperitifs and beef bouillon, and spreading rumors that she slept in a coffin to better understand the macabre heroines she played. Eleonora Duse shied away from the spotlight. Born to a penniless family of itinerant troubadours, she disappeared into the characters she portrayed--channeling their spirits, she claimed. Her new, natural style of acting revolutionized the theater, and earned her the ire of Sarah Bernhardt in what would become the most tumultuous theatrical showdown of the nineteenth century. Bernhardt and Duse seduced each other's lovers, stole each other's favorite playwrights, and took to the world's stages to outperform their rival in her most iconic roles. A scandalous, enormously entertaining history full of high drama and low blows, Playing to the Gods is the page-turning account of the feud that changed theater forever."--Dust jacket

Table Of Contents

Sarah Bernhardt -- Eleonora Duse

Target audience

adult

Classification