Abstract:
Linked to the career of two prominent Hungarian actresses (Kornélia Prielle (1826–1906) and Lilla Bulyovszky (1833–1909)), the study focuses on some of the components of the actress’s image construction in relation to contemporary normative female images and theatrical role-types or lines of business. In fact, the two careers are seen within the framework of finding the right role/the fitting lines of business and working within it (ingenue, heroine or leading lady, ‘character’ actress or salon-actress) pointing out the different strategies used by them and the interferences of performative conventions used on and off stage. The analysis uses besides performance-criticism and other relevant historical sources, theatrical and textual self representations of both actresses and in the case of Lilla Bulyovszky uses her fictional writings as well.
The comparison may indicate the path that led to the creation of a new type of modern woman figure in the new century and so, too, we can gauge the extent to which these actresses participated in the transformation and remaking the norms of performativity for the new woman through their selfrepresentation strategies and reception,
