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Margaret Hughes, playing Desdemona in Othello in 1660, is believed to be the first professional woman to perform on the public stage in England. In William Shakespeare's time all female roles were taken by boys whose voices had not yet broken, or by older men in the players' company. Only in private performances, such as masques at court were women allowed to act on stage, and then only alongside professional players.

The notorious female transvestite Mary Frith is said to have taken part in a play at the Fortune Theatre ca. 1611, but it would not have been one of Shakespeare's. (It may have been the Roaring Girl by Middleton and Dekker, which was actually written about her)

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