The critically acclaimed biography of Shakespeare's most enduring heroine, Rosalind, now in paperback. Into the spotlight steps Rosalind, the actor-manager of As You Like It. Shes alive. Shes modern. Shes also a fiction. Played by a boy actor in 1599, shes a girl who gets into mens clothes to investigate the truth about love. Both male and female, imaginary and real, her intriguing duality gives her a special role. What is a man? What is a woman? We are all Rosalind now. This book is for everyone who has ever loved Shakespeare. Like Rosalind, his most innovative heroine, he can never die. She too is timeless. There is no clock in the Forest of Arden where Rosalind finds herself and applies her mercurial wit to teach her lover, Orlando, how to become her perfect partner, issues which consume men and women today. This highly original biography of Rosalind contains exclusive new interviews with Juliet Rylance, Sally Scott, Janet Suzman, Juliet Stevenson, Michelle Terry, award-winning director Blanche McIntyre, as well as insights from Michael Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Greg Doran, Rebecca Hall, Adrian Lester, Pippa Nixon, Vanessa Redgrave and Fiona Shaw. Angela Thirlwell explores the fictitious life and the many after-lives of Rosalind, Shakespeares progressive new heroine, and her perennial influence on drama, fiction and art. The book ranges widely across Tudor history, theatre history, sexual politics, autobiography, art history and filmography. On a single day Cush Jumbo wins the Sunday Times Ian Charleson Award for her performance as Rosalind at Manchesters Royal Exchange its a dream role, she says, the greatest female part in Shakespeare.