And on male impersonators

[oursin]

Ladies as gentlemen: the cross-dressing women of Edwardian musical theatre in today's Guardian.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

It's like Tipping the Velvet but without the annoying acting!

[luce]

I'm still reading it but apart from the romantic plot, the insight into what might've been people's perception of gender roles and the whole construction of gender as a characterization, a socially sanctioned roleplay, is pretty good.

[ironed_orchid]

I haven't read it, just seen the mini-series. And the acting was rather annoying.

[mllesays]

Oooh, thanks for the link!

[spacefall]

I recently posted an article by Ella Shields (Burlington Bertie) over on my LJ. The article is from the 1920s, but talks about the origins of Shields' career. It's an interesting account of consciously learning and performing 'maleness'. It fascinates me that people can go that far without (openly) questioning the 'natural' or unperformed status of gender (though presumably male impersonators would not have been born onto the stage without that perception of 'artificial' vs 'natural' gender.) Anyway, erm, it interests me. :)





Original post: http://spacefall.livejournal.com/900517.html

[starlady]

Wow, that article's quotations and descriptions could have come straight out of Vested Interests, right down to the "Chinese boxes" comment.

Fascinating!