Cleopatra is one of our icons of "exotic" femininity. Sexy, political, and racially ambiguous--since the time of Shakespeare she has been a central character in popular culture. And, more often than not, Cleopatra has been imagined as the epitome of dangerous female sexuality. Moving fluidly from Shakespeare's England to contemporary Los Angeles, Francesca Royster looks at the performance of race and sexuality in a wide range of portrayals of Cleopatra...