Drama by Women to 1900: A Bibliography of American and British Writers.

By Gwenn Davis and Beverley A. Joyce, comps. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1992; pp. 189. $100.00.

In approximately 850 entries, Dramatic ReV-isions: An Annotated Bibliography of Feminism and Theatre 1972-1988 covers a range of feminist dramatic theory, critical interpretation, professional issues, and performance practices published in the formative years of scholarship on these topics. The framing dates are somewhat arbitrary: the starting date leaves out important early work such as Rosamond Gilder's, while the closing date is a necessary exigency for the bibliographer's sanity. As poignantly as any discursive study, the bibliography makes evident the strengths of coverage in feminist scholarship up to 1988. Annotations of early works chart out a decade and a half of work: Margaret Lamb's 1974 outlines for "research on women in theatre history; the examination of creative work presently being done by women and its relation to feminism; and reassessment of the critical approaches used to explore work by, for, or about women" (A41) frames the bibbography's categories as well as presciently locating major lines of inquiry in the discipline. The book is not aimed at beginners, for a considerable familiarity with canonical and non-canonical literature and theatre history is presumed by the annotator, but the indices provide convoluted guidance to ensure that less specialised enquirers who persevere will find their way and more often than not identify at least one source on topics as …