The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre / Edition 1

by Laurence Senelick

Overview

The answers to these questions - and much, much more - are to be found in The Changing Room , which traces the origins and variations of theatrical cross-dressing through the ages and across cultures. It examines:
* tribal rituals and shamanic practices in the Balkans and Chinese-Tibet
* the gender-bending elements of Greek and early Christian religion
* the homosexual appeal of the boy actor on the traditional stage of China, Japan and England
* the origins of the dame comedian, the principal boy, the glamour drag artiste and the male impersonator
* artists such as David Bowie, Boy George, Charles Ludlam, Dame Edna Everage, Lily Savage, Candy Darling, Julian Clary and the New York Dolls.
Lavishly illustrated with unusual and rare pictures, this is the first ever cross-cultural study of theatrical transvestism. It is a must for anyone interested in cross-dressing, theatre, and gender.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415159869
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/22/2000
Series:	Gender in Performance
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Laurence Senelick is Fletcher Professor of Drama at Tufts University. He is the recipient of awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His many publications include lovesick (1998), The Chekhov Theatre, and the Age and Stage of George L. Fox.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part 1: Acting out 1. The Sham in Shaman 2. The Greek for It Was Gynaikíseos 3. Skirting Christ Part 2: Stages of Sodomy 4. Orientations 4. China Trade 5. Playboys and Boy Players Part 3: The Mannish and the Unmanned 7. Arms and the Woman 8. Monstrous Pleasures of the Baroque 9. Breeches Birth 10. Beldames sans Merci 11. The Prince, the Pauper and the Pan Part 4: Subcultures Surface 12. Putting On the Drag 13. The Impersonator) of the Perverse 14. Amateur Hour Part 5: Children of the Ghetto 15. Queens of Clubs 16. Alternatives 17. Sex, Drags and Rock n Roll 18. Subversive Clowns 19. A Gender of their Own Afterword: Dressing Down. Index

Editorial Reviews

The research behind this substantial work is exceptionally impressive. It spans ancient times to modern ones, exploring cross-dressing and drag culture in theater and performance practice, with related references to art and world traditions. Senelick (drama, Tufts Univ.) presents hundreds of examples that dissect the subject with its various underlying myths, meanings, and customs, studying the historical significance and sexual implications of each. From the Greeks and Shakespeare to the lineage of female impersonators to the more current M. Butterfly, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Barry Humphries's most popular Dame Edna Everage, Senelick studies so many facets of the topic that many readers will be startled by its enormity. Despite such eye-catching chapter/section titles as "Skirting Christ," "Stages of Sodomy," "Putting on the Drag," and "Queens of Clubs," as well as the provocative nature of the subject matter itself, this is definitely a serious scholarly work with all of the trimmings and should be of prime interest to large academic, theater, and entertainment history collections.--Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

'...a thoughtful and meticulous tome to be welcomed by serious students of theatre and gender studies. With great care, Senelick discusses the anthropological, cultural, political and artistic history and ramifications of sexual identity and roles in theater and society.' - Publishers Weekly

'Excellent...bang up-to-date...these books will be in constant use for the foreseeable future...the completed series will be a 'must' for anyone interested or involved with Britain's wildlife, its ecology, its history and our relationships with it.'- Natural History Book Service

From the Publisher