Why classical burlesque? -- Enacting the past and the present -- The histories of Victorian classical burlesque -- Texts and contexts -- Note on the texts and this edition -- List of representative nineteenth-century classical burlesques -- Antigone : travestie / Edward L. Blanchard -- Alcestis, the original strong-minded woman / Francis Talfourd -- Medea; or, the best of mothers, with a brute of a husband / Robert Brough -- Electra in a new electric light / Francis Talfourd.