A fresh and intimate portrait of Queen Victoria 'at the play'. Through Victoria's diary, artwork and correspondence we see her as enraptured spectator, bountiful patron and tyrannical director of private theatricals. At times she appears formidable. More frequently she is impudent, high-spirited and unruly; a woman who delights in gory melodramas and circus acts. Queen Victoria and the Theatre of Her Age gives readers a deeply personal account of her lifelong devotion to the stage. It will appeal to anyone interested in monarchy's place in popular culture.

RICHARD W. SCHOCH is Reader in Drama and Theatre History at Queen Mary, University of London. His previous works include Not Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Victorian Stage, and Victorian Theatrical Burlesques. The recipient of fellowships from The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Leverhulme Trust, and The American Society for Theatre Research, he has been shortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize and the Barnard Hewitt Award.