Performing Womanhood in Eastern Europe

Performing Womanhood in Eastern Europe explores a distinctive form of womanhood that emerged in post-World War II Eastern Europe, offering an alternative to Western typologies.

This work interweaves theatre history with personal narratives while addressing contemporary issues that continue to resonate. In Eastern Europe's patriarchal landscape, the stage has become a vital space for authentic critical analysis and introspection, with women's previously silenced voices now taking center stage. The book examines performances and dramatic works by creators from Romania, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova, and former Yugoslavia, revealing how they represent female experiences within Eastern Europe's complex geopolitical environment. It questions whether theatrical expression can bridge the feminist divide between East and West, and if performance spaces might serve as forums where marginalised narratives and multidirectional memories can be renegotiated. Ultimately, it explores how the personal can reclaim its political dimension, allowing womanhood in all its manifestations to be performed authentically, either shielded from or actively challenging the male gaze.

This book will particularly appeal to scholars of Eastern European studies, feminist theatre historians, and performance artists interested in gendered cultural expression across post-communist spaces.