The present volume examines Judith ButlerÆs concept of gender performance in Angela CarterÆs _Nights at the Circus_ (1984), Sarah WatersÆs ¬_Tipping the Velvet_ (1998) and Peter AckroydÆs _Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem_ (1994). All of them depict how female performers make use of the stage to expose gender identity as an act performance and in doing so they destabilise the public/private dichotomy.