Enter The Body speculates on how the theatre 'plays' women's bodies, and how audiences read them. Covering such topics such as sex, death, race, gender, culture and politics, Rutter explores five of Shakespeare's female characters as she reconstructs specific moments of theatrical production that puts bodies spectacularly in play. * Ophelia in the grave * Cordelia in Lear's arms * Emilia gossiping * Cressida handing over her glove * Cleopatra contesting white imperialism with her blackness. One of the most provocative writers on women's performances of Shakespeare on stage and film in Britain today, Rutter also situates these roles on the early modern stage, observing performers such as Anna, Queen of Denmark, Peggy Ashcroft, Helen Mirren, Janet Suzman, Helen Bonham-Carter, Kate Winslet, Judi Dench and Whoopi Goldberg.