Welcome
Welcome to Points Like A Man: The Shakespearean Breeches Performance Catalogue. This catalogue is a digital project aiming to curate records of individual Shakespearean breeches performances by actresses from 1660 to 1900.
We define breeches roles as roles written as male characters but played by a woman actress, and disguise roles as women characters, played by women actresses, that disguise as men in the course of their play. Our database explores both kinds of roles.
Project Scope
We seek to collect records of Shakespearean breeches performances by actresses, inclusive of breeches and disguise roles, from 1660 to 1900. While breeches and disguise roles were performed and embodied before and after this period, it is during this period that the genre of breeches performance rose to immense prominence. Because of this, we focus on this 240-year time frame to study these roles.
Our project began by focusing on performances by actresses in London, but will seek to curate records of breeches performances from around the world. Our scope, therefore, is far-reaching. Because of this, though, we know we cannot be comprehensive in representing all breeches performances in total, but we will certainly do our best. We aim for comprehensive coverage for performances in London from 1660 to 1900 and selective coverage in other cities.
Additionally, during the English Restoration and eighteenth century, there were numerous adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. Many of these adaptations retain much of Shakespeare’s original text and characters. We have made the choice to include performances of Shakespearean roles in plays by playwrights other than Shakespeare. However, the choice to include these roles is reliant on if the adapted character is sourced from the original play by Shakespeare and maintains its original name.
Project Goals
Each catalogue record features information about a particular breeches performance, including actress name, date of performance, type of role (breeches or disguise), role name, play name, theatre and location of theatre, and source of record. Beyond this preliminary information, each record will eventually aim to include supplementary links to digitized materials from the performance, including prompt books, playbills, and images or prints when available.
In addition to the performance data, we also aim to provide as much biographical information as possible for the actresses involved in these performances. We do our best to locate the full name of each actress as well as alternate (married) names in order to connect performance records under different names. We also provide her lifespan when possible and any supplemental links available to her records or pages in VIAF, Wikipedia, Wikidata, and in the Dictionary of National Biography, American National Biography Online, and the Dictionary of Irish Biography. Doing so allows for a fuller study of these actresses as well as allowing the study of an actress’s career in breeches roles.
The aim of the catalogue is to provide a resource wherein students, researchers, and scholars can read about, explore, and study the rich genre of Shakespearean breeches performance. By way of the catalogue tags and the search function, readers can trace patterns from actresses, the various roles they played, and the theatres at which they played.
Project History
This catalogue was launched in 2023 by Alexandra E. LaGrand as a digital capstone project for her graduate certificate in Digital Humanities at Texas A&M University. The research for this project has since been funded by Texas A&M’s Center of Digital Humanities Research (CoDHR) and Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, as well as The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Additionally, Points Like A Man is particularly indebted to Texas A&M’s Center of Digital Humanities Research (CoDHR) for their continued support and technical assistance with developing the database site.
In March 2024, project director Alexandra E. LaGrand was recognized internationally for her development of Points Like A Man through an Honorable Mention for the Emerging Researcher Open Scholarship Award from the Canadian Social Knowledge Institute.
Project Team
Project Director: Alexandra E. LaGrand, Texas A&M University
Corpora Plugin Developer: Dr. Bryan Tarpley, Texas A&M University
Technical Advising (Spring/Summer 2023): Dr. Lauren Liebe, Penn State Brandywine
Project Advising (Spring 2023): Dr. Laura Mandell, Texas A&M University
Project Advising (Fall 2022): Dr. Heidi Craig, University of Toronto Scarborough
Special thanks to Dr. Maura Ives, Texas A&M University; Kayley Hart, Texas A&M University; and Dr. Michael Gamer, University of Pennsylvania
Keep in Touch
Stay up-to-date with Points Like A Man by following us on Bluesky at @pointslikeaman.bsky.social. Have suggestions or comments? Feel free to email us directly at pointslikeaman@gmail.com.