I've tried to research this through Google and don't yet have a satisfactory answer. I see a book on Amazon but it's $55. I don't want to spend that for a little bit of information.

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Were there actresses on stage in late sixteenth century France? I know there were in Italy, I know there were not in England. I've read there were women in riff-raff, roughneck theater. What about plays for the nobility? I have read that boys still played some female roles but there were some females in female roles also. I want to know for sure if women were on stage in sophisticated farces/dramas that would have been seen by the court. Anybody know?

I have unearthed some useful info in Wikipedia under Theater of France. Searching for Actresses in French Theater turned up next to nothing (in terms of my period). I'll stretch what I've found to fit my requirements and seal the deal with my cover-all-bases remark: this may not be quite the truth, but what do you expect of a story about a talking cat? (My comical footnotes are getting a workout.)

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My thanks to Curtis Bausse for messaging me some good information.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 2/4/2015, 1:03 PM--

Hello Aries!

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Well, I went ahead and bought that Women on the Stage in Early Modern France, but have yet to get into it too far, because (as usual) I got hooked by another book (The Princess Bride) that I thought I could also learn from, as far as Author Intrusion is concerned. I do a lot of that as well. I am pleased to see that Goldman goes even more off the rails than I do, because I have been criticized for it. I don't care. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Here's the thing: I'm trying to keep the historical as close as I can to reality, to set off what is clearly fantasy. My MC is a talking cat. Now, I have thought of saying, well, the nobility had private entertainments and did what they damn well pleased, but, I do that sort of thing enough already so I want to avoid more of it if I can. 

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What do you write? What do you read? Nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you Mimi. Avoid a historical divergence if you can, I like the nobility did what they wanted attitude myself (which is historically accurate) but follow your gut.

I have been recently reading research for my book mostly.

But, I have rediscovered the bath, and am diving into War and Remembrance.

Now that I have I look at my own book as a work in progress more so than I did a month ago.

What do I write. My one and only book is an alternative history of the great flood and the timeline of history. I learned recently, that there are many cities submerged in the waters throughout the world. This fascinates me, so I have accumulated about a 100,000 words on the subject merging a mish-mosh of subjects, cultures and conspiracy theories that fit into one life time in the age of Aries.

My list of woes for the day/week:

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*I'm flipping out with this weather. Enough is enough! How many more times, Lord, do we have to dig the cars out? Our brand new snow blower broke down a week ago and we don't have it back yet. I feel like crying.

*I'm composing a short poem that Sly recited to himself prior to his theatrical turns on the Elizabethan stage, a mantra to pump himself up, and I've been having a hard time with it. For four to six lousy lines, I've been running at the thing for a solid week, but I may finally have gotten it. I thought about dumping the idea, but I've got stuff alluding to it in the previous paragraphs that I love and don't want to write out.

*Our water quit today, but my husband seems to have fixed it, thank God.

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In short, I'm a mess.

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Here's what's a morale booster for me: I have researched The Princess Bride and discover that Goldman's biographical information, woven through the story, is all fabricated. Well, he may actually be a screenwriter. That sounds legit. Here is a man who took his concept as far as it would go. I love that. That's kind of what I do, but he goes way beyond me. If I can dig up an address for him, I'm going to write him a fan letter.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 3/4/2015, 7:26 PM--

Be careful, if you do find an address it might be fabricated also.