General introduction

Abstract

This chapter provides a short general introduction by the two co-editors outlining the volume’s scope, structure and intentions, together with brief discussion of themes that recur throughout it plus a summary of other work available in the field. This is a volume which brings together academics and practitioners to chronicle and celebrate the courage, determination and achievements, despite multiple obstacles, of women on stage across the ages and around the globe; its coverage extends from ancient Greece to present-day India via the United States, Soviet Russia, Europe, Australasia, South Africa and Japan.