The second chapter ( ‘Dangerous Pleasures ‘) turns to the actual experience of going to the theatre and examines accounts of how audiences responded to performances. Using first-hand commentaries, theatre reviews, portraits, and satirical cartoons, it explores responses to Sarah Siddons ‘s acting as a case study in affect, focusing in particular on the hysteria that resulted from her performance as Isabella in Thomas Southerne ‘s Isabella, or the Fatal Marriage. Audiences screamed, fainted, and had hysterical fits, physical representations of emotional response that were seen as a tribute to Siddons ‘s powerful acting and to the sensibility of spectators. At the same time, questions regarding the sincerity of these displays arose, as did more elemental concerns about the desirability of sympathizing so strongly with the characters Siddons represented.