everyone loves a little genderfucking fun
I'm spending all day holed up in the grad office, hoping to produce my faux-prospectus. In the course of this project, I'm going through the myriad of books I've amassed on my would-be thesis project, INCLUDING an ENTIRE, GLORIOUS BOOK on cross-dressing in Shakespearean performance.
BOYS IN SKIRTS BLISS.
This is the best bit I've read thus far, from a chapter by Roberta Barker called 'Acting Against the Rules,' as she describes a performance of As You Like It done in an English public school by an (naturally) all-male cast:
[after discussing the boy who 'passed' as Celia] But this was not the performance that most truly allowed us to remember the erotic potential of the Shakespearean boy actress. That happened when Phoebe took the stage in the person of a six-foot sixth-former whose astonishingly long and elegant legs were exposed in full fish-netted glory by the belt-sized mini-skirt he wore. The actor was clearly detached enough from his role to enjoy and manipulate the sensation he created, granting a flirtatious wave to those in the audience who whistled at him. But he was also clearly identified enough with his role, and with the transgressive crossing involved in it, to provoke a ripple of giggles, murmurs, palpable excitement, and whispered mockery at each appearance. When we asked our host, a Master at the school, to explain these reactions, he described the actor as a celebrated member of his year, a brilliant performer and well-known sexual adventurer who 'batted for both teams.' My companion remarked that, seeing those legs, she could well understand both teams' reasons for keeping him on side. Her (vehemently heterosexual) friend smiled and admitted that he, too, could see the attraction. 'But of course,' he remarked, 'it's strictly against the rules.'
DOIJFODSJFOIDJFODC ISDAJFEWKAMCLKDJHIONYESPLEASE.
BOYS IN SKIRTS BLISS.
This is the best bit I've read thus far, from a chapter by Roberta Barker called 'Acting Against the Rules,' as she describes a performance of As You Like It done in an English public school by an (naturally) all-male cast:
[after discussing the boy who 'passed' as Celia] But this was not the performance that most truly allowed us to remember the erotic potential of the Shakespearean boy actress. That happened when Phoebe took the stage in the person of a six-foot sixth-former whose astonishingly long and elegant legs were exposed in full fish-netted glory by the belt-sized mini-skirt he wore. The actor was clearly detached enough from his role to enjoy and manipulate the sensation he created, granting a flirtatious wave to those in the audience who whistled at him. But he was also clearly identified enough with his role, and with the transgressive crossing involved in it, to provoke a ripple of giggles, murmurs, palpable excitement, and whispered mockery at each appearance. When we asked our host, a Master at the school, to explain these reactions, he described the actor as a celebrated member of his year, a brilliant performer and well-known sexual adventurer who 'batted for both teams.' My companion remarked that, seeing those legs, she could well understand both teams' reasons for keeping him on side. Her (vehemently heterosexual) friend smiled and admitted that he, too, could see the attraction. 'But of course,' he remarked, 'it's strictly against the rules.'
DOIJFODSJFOIDJFODC ISDAJFEWKAMCLKDJHIONYESPLEASE.