Performing the Female Alternative in Victorian Popular Drama: The “Girl of the Period” and the “Fast Girl”

During the nineteenth century, theatregoing became favoured entertainment of both lower and upper classes in London. As Davis (1994, 307) suggests, plays were a “mirrored reflection” society, they had ability to reflect important socio-political issues on stage, while also influencing people’s opinion about them. Thus, by turning popular stage mid-century we can better understand social like Woman Question, or tensions around imperial policies, among others. such, this article scrutinises ways which Victorian drama influenced period’s ideal femininity using stock characters inspired real women’s movements. Two such cases are “Girl Period” “Fast Girl”, protofeminists that would go influence New fin-de-siècle. We analyse two from mid-century: Adelphi’s Our Female American Cousin (1860), Charles Gayler, Strand’s My Place (1863), Arthur Wood. attests, these inadvertently bring into mainstream ongoing political fight for female rights through their use transgressive promotion scenarios where alternative feminine identities could be performed imagined.