Davis, Jim (2014) ‘Slap on! Slap ever!’: Victorian pantomime, gender variance, and cross-dressing. New Theatre Quarterly, Volume 30 (Number 3). pp. 218-230. doi:10.1017/S0266464X14000463 ISSN 0266-464X.

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Abstract

In this article Jim Davis considers gender representation in Victorian pantomime alongside variance in Victorian life, examining male and female impersonation in pantomime within the context of cross-dressing (often a manifestation of gender variance) in everyday life. While accepting that male heterosexual, gay, and lesbian gazes may have informed the reception of Victorian pantomime, he argues for the existence of a transgendered gaze and a contextual awareness of gender variant behaviour, with a more nuanced view of cross-dressed performance. The principal boy role and its relationship to variant ways of seeing suggests its appeal goes beyond what Jacky Bratton calls the ‘boy’, a notion she applies to the dynamic androgyny of male impersonators in burlesque, music hall, and occasionally melodrama. For the principal ‘boy’ is clearly transmuting back into a girl, at least physically. Equally, while the dame role is usually unambiguously male, Dan Leno's late-Victorian dames seem based on observation of real women. There has been enormous scholarly interest in theatrical cross-dressing, but also a partial tendency to associate it with what Marjorie Garber calls ‘an emerging gay and lesbian identity’. This is appropriate, but should not obscure the relevance of cross-dressed performances to an emerging transgender identity, even if such an identity has partially been hidden from history. Any discussion of cross-dressing in Victorian pantomime should heed the multifaceted functions of cross dressing in its society and the multiplicity of gendered perspectives and gazes that this elicited.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Theater -- Great Britain -- 19th century, Pantomime -- Great Britain -- 19th century, Female impersonators -- Great Britain -- 19th century, Male impersonators -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Journal or Publication Title:	New Theatre Quarterly
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0266-464X
Official Date:	6 August 2014
Dates:	Date Event 6 August 2014 Published
Volume:	Volume 30
Number:	Number 3
Page Range:	pp. 218-230
DOI:	10.1017/S0266464X14000463
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	27 December 2015
Date of first compliant Open Access:	27 December 2015

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