Examining women's responses to Shakespeare's plays during the eighteenth century as actresses, playgoers and critics, Ritchie assesses their contributions to the emergent identity of the national bard. Ritchie's introduction reviews women's engagement with Shakespeare during the Restoration period, beginning with the first female role professionally played by a woman (p. 3), and heralding Margaret Cavendish as writer of the first critical essay on Shakespeare (pp. 13–16). Sharp close reading of Pepys's diary (pp. 16–23) indicates that not only did Elizabeth Pepys see every Shakespeare play or adaptation performed during the period covered by the diary (p. 19), but she was also an independent critic, capable of walking out of an unpleasing performance (p. 20). The introduction's tripartite focus on women as performers, critics and audience members nicely frames the ensuing chapters: ‘Actresses in the Age of Garrick’, ‘Women Critics in the Age of Johnson’, ‘Theatrical Women Respond to Shakespeare’, ‘Jordan and Siddons: Beyond Thalia and Melpomene’, and ‘Women Playgoers: Historical Repertory and Sentimental Response’.

Actresses, including Catherine Clive, Susannah Cibber and Hannah Pritchard, were key to popularizing Shakespeare. Like David Garrick, her frequent collaborator, Pritchard drew acclaim for her abilities in tragedy and comedy (p. 37). Ritchie persuasively illustrates Pritchard's importance to the Bard's revival, contending that as Pritchard acted twenty-eight Shakespearean roles to Garrick's sixteen, she surpassed his ‘mastery of the canon’ (p. 39). Pritchard enjoyed three Shakespearean revivals for her benefit nights (As You Like It, 1741; Much Ado about Nothing, 1746; Catharine and Petruchio, 1754); and considering the financial outlay and risk involved in new productions, Ritchie writes, ‘that Pritchard was allowed to select these roles for her benefits demonstrates her high status in the theatre company’ (p. 42). A later chapter considers actresses Dorothy Jordan and Sarah Siddons; Jordan emerges not solely as the comic muse, but as a crucial participant in the ‘natural’ acting movement (pp. 121–40).

For critic Elizabeth Montagu, drama's purpose was ‘moral instruction’, moving spectators to virtuous behaviour (p. 69). Ritchie convincingly reinvests this idea with meaning, arguing that Montagu's Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear situates her as a serious rival to Samuel Johnson, who dealt only with ‘the piddling trade of verbal criticism’ (p. 71). Elizabeth Inchbald's critical prefaces to The British Theatre (1806–9) similarly opened up space for women in critical conversations concerning Shakespeare, for these ‘positions of judgement were usually reserved for men’ (p. 98).

Astute in its analysis of audience dynamics, and showcasing revelatory consultation of previously unpublished diaries and letters that trace the formation of influential female communities of taste like the Shakespeare Ladies Club (pp. 142–56), this carefully edited book excels in its emphasis on women's vigorous, efficacious promotion of Shakespeare's works, in stage repertory and criticism.