The riveting story of the rivalry between the two most renowned actresses of the 19th century: legendary Sarah Bernhardt, whose eccentricity on and off the stage made her the original diva, and mystical Eleonora Duse, who broke all the rules to popularise the natural style of acting we celebrate today.

Audiences across Europe and the Americas clamoured to see the divine Sarah Bernhardt swoon - and she gave them their money's worth. The world's first superstar, she travelled with a chimpanzee named Darwin and a pet alligator that drank champagne, shamelessly supplementing her income by endorsing everything from aperitifs to beef bouillon, and spreading rumours that she slept in a coffin to better understand the macabre heroines she played.

Eleonora Duse shied away from the spotlight. Born to a penniless family of itinerant troubadours, she disappeared into the characters she portrayed - channelling their spirits, she claimed. Her new, empathetic style of acting revolutionised the theatre - and earned her the ire of Sarah Bernhardt in what would become the most tumultuous theatrical showdown of the 19th century. Bernhardt and Duse seduced each other's lovers, stole one another's favourite playwrights, and took to the world's stages to outperform their rival in her most iconic roles.

A scandalous, enormously entertaining history full of high drama and low blows, Playing to the Gods is the enthralling account of the feud that changed theatre forever.