Epic Cassandras in Performance, 1795–1868

Victorian refigurations of the Cassandra myth ferment throughout the long eighteenth century, when new theatrical modes put into practice prevailing aesthetic theories that gave prominence to the visual over the verbal. This chapter examines the range of prophetic Cassandras, from the Shakespearean raving prophetess to the palm-reading Gypsies of the 1860s. Such variations can only be given full expression on the stage, where a set of gestures, costumes, and sociocultural referents develop new cultural, inter-theatrical, and semiotic systems. Performing as the epic Cassandra also triggered the career of a number of actresses and dancers who found in Cassandra the perfect means to prove their performing skills to the audience. At a time when women’s access to knowledge was being disputed, the Cassandra myth provided fertile soil wherein to test and contest the role of women in society.