Drag in the performing arts Drag (clothing)

1 drag in performing arts

1.1 theatre

1.1.1 in folk custom


1.2 opera
1.3 film , television
1.4 music

drag in performing arts

there long history of drag in performing arts, spanning wide range of cultural artistic traditions.

drag in theatre arts manifests 2 kinds of phenomenon. 1 cross-dressing in performance, part of social history of theatre. other cross-dressing within theatrical fiction (i.e. character cross-dresser), part of literary history.

drag played comic effect. examples include female characters (at times caricatures) played male members of monty python, , tony curtis , jack lemmon in hot. in other cases comedy may in material being performed, , not in fact women characters portrayed men, such in many kids in hall sketches.

baden-powell, founder of scout movement, keen on amateur theatricals charterhouse public school where, among other roles, played female operatic roles. in army made speciality of female roles , make own dresses. stage speciality called skirt dance.

theatre

cross-dressing elements of performance traditions widespread cultural phenomena. in england, actors in shakespearean plays, , elizabethan theatre, male; female parts played young men in drag. shakespeare used conventions enrich gender confusions of it, , ben jonson manipulated same conventions in epicœne, or silent woman, (1609). plot device of film shakespeare in love (1998) turns upon elizabethan convention. during reign of charles ii rules relaxed allow women play female roles on london stage, reflecting french fashion, , convention of men routinely playing female roles consequently disappeared. however, in current-day british pantomime, pantomime dame traditional role played man in drag, while principal boy, such prince charming or dick whittington, played girl.

within dramatic fiction, double standard historically affected uses of drag. in male-dominated societies active roles reserved men, woman might dress man under pressures of dramatic predicament. in these societies man s position above woman s, causing rising action suited tragedy, sentimental melodrama , comedies of manners involved confused identities. man dressed woman thought falling action suited broad low comedy , burlesque. les ballets trockadero de monte carlo male ballet troupe of humor in seeing male dancers en travesti; performing roles reserved females, wearing tutus , dancing en pointe considerable technical skill.

these conventions of male-dominated societies largely unbroken before 20th century, when rigid gender roles undermined , began dissolve. evolution changed drag in last decades of 20th century. among contemporary drag performers, theatrical drag queen or street queen may @ times seen less female impersonator per se, drag queen, , role of queen existing identity based in neither mainstream male nor mainstream female conventions. examples include cockettes, danny la rue or rupaul.

in folk custom

men dressed or disguised women have featured in traditional customs , rituals centuries. example, characters of regional variants of traditional mummers play, traditionally performed men, include besom bet(ty); numerous variations on bessy or betsy; bucksome nell; mrs clagdarse; dame dolly; dame dorothy; mrs finney; mrs frail , many others. variant performed around plough monday in eastern england known plough play (also wooing play or bridal play) , involves 2 female characters, young lady bright , gay , old dame jane , dispute bastard child.

a character called bessy accompanied plough jags (aka plough jacks, plough stots, plough bullocks, etc.) in places no play performed: man dressed in women s clothes, carried collecting box money , other largesse.

maid marian of abbots bromley horn dance played man, , maid marians referred in old documents having taken part in may games , other festivals morris dancers have been men. consort of castleton garland king traditionally man (until 1956, when woman took on role) , referred woman .

opera

in baroque opera, soprano roles men sung castrati, handel s heroine bradamante, in opera alcina, disguises herself man save lover, played male soprano; contemporary audiences not least confused. in romantic opera, roles of young boys written alto , soprano voices , acted women en travestie (in english, in trouser roles ). familiar trouser role in pre-romantic opera cherubino in mozart s marriage of figaro (1786). romantic opera continued convention: there trouser roles women in drag in rossini s semiramide (arsace), donizetti s rosamonda d inghilterra , anna bolena, berlioz s benvenuto cellini, , page in verdi s don carlo. convention beginning die out siebel, ingenuous youth in charles gounod s faust (1859) , gypsy boy beppe in mascagni s l amico fritz, offenbach gave role of cupid real boy in orphée aux enfers. sarah bernhardt played hamlet in tights, giving french audiences glimpse of leg (the other in fact being prosthesis) , prince orlovsky, gives ball in die fledermaus, mezzo-soprano, androgynous effect. use of travesti in richard strauss s rosenkavalier (1912) special case, unusually subtle , evocative of 18th-century setting, , should discussed in detail @ der rosenkavalier.

film , television

the self-consciously risqué bourgeois high jinks of brandon thomas charley s aunt (london, 1892) still viable theatre material in la cage aux folles 1978, remade, birdcage, late 1996. in 1890s slapstick drag traditions of undergraduate productions (notably hasty pudding theatricals @ harvard college, annually since 1891 , @ other ivy league schools princeton university s triangle club or university of pennsylvania s mask , wig club) permissible fare same middle-class american audiences scandalized hear in new york city, rouged young men in skirts standing on tables dance can-can in bowery dives slide. drag shows popular night club entertainment in new york in 20s, forced underground, until jewel box revue played harlem s apollo theater in 1950s: 49 men , girl. girl received roar of applause, when revealed same smart young man in dinner clothes had been introducing each of evening s acts. drag last-resort tactic in situational farce (its permissible format @ time) made big hollywood splash in hot (1959).

for san francisco drag troupe, cockettes (1970–72), performed glitter eyeshadow , gilded mustaches , beards, term genderfuck coined. drag broke out underground theatre in persona of divine in john waters s pink flamingos (1972): see charles pierce. crowd surrounding andy warhol s factory scene of 1960s–1980s included drag queens achieved amount of fame, such candy darling , holly woodlawn, both immortalized in lou reed song walk on wild side. cult hit movie musical rocky horror picture show has inspired several generations of young people attend performances in drag, although many of these fans deny transvestites.

on american network television, broadest slapstick drag tradition represented. few american tv comedians consistently used drag comedy device, among them milton berle, flip wilson , martin lawrence, although drag characters have been popular on sketch tv shows in living color (with jim carrey s grotesque female bodybuilder) , saturday night live (with gap girls, among others). on popular 1960s military sitcom, mchale s navy, ensign parker (tim conway) had dress in drag (often hilarious results) whenever mchale and/or crew had disguise in order carry out elaborate schemes. gilligan s island features men dressing in women s clothes, though not considered drag since not performance. popular canadian comedy group kids in hall used drag in many of skits. dame edna, drag persona of australian actor barry humphries, host of several specials, including dame edna experience. dame edna tours internationally, playing sell-out crowds, , has appeared on tv s ally mcbeal.

dame edna represents anomalous example of drag concept. earliest incarnation unmistakably man dressed (badly) suburban housewife. edna s manner , appearance became feminised , glamorised of tv show guests appear not see edna character played man. furor surrounding dame edna s advice column in vanity fair magazine suggests 1 of harshest critics, actress salma hayek, unaware dame edna female character played man.

on stage , screen, actor-playwright-screenwriter-producer tyler perry has included drag character of madea in of noted productions, such stage play diary of mad black woman , feature film based upon it.

maximilliana , rupaul co-star in tv show nash bridges starring don johnson , cheech marin during two-part episode cuda grace. maximilliana, looking passable, leads 1 of investigators believe real , sexually advances learn there down there, dismay.

in united kingdom, drag has been more common in comedy, on both film , television. alastair sim plays headmistress miss millicent fritton in belles of st trinian s (1954) , blue murder @ st trinian s (1957). played role straight; no direct joke actor s true gender made. however, miss fritton quite non-feminine in pursuits of betting, drinking , smoking. gag whilst school sends out girls merciless world, world need beware. despite this, or perhaps because of sim s portrayal, subsequent films in series went on use actresses in headmistress role (dora bryan , sheila hancock respectively). 21st century re-boot of series reverted drag, rupert everett in role.

on television, benny hill portrayed several female characters, monty python troupe , league of gentlemen played female parts in skits. league of gentlemen credited first ever portrayal of nude drag, man playing female character shown naked still appropriate female anatomy, fake breasts , merkin.within conceit of sketch/film, women: audience in on joke.

monty python women, whom troupe called pepperpots, random middle-aged working/lower middle class typically wearing long brown coats common in 1960s. save few characters played eric idle, looked , sounded little actual women caricatural outfits , shrill falsettos. however, when sketch called real woman, pythons called on carol cleveland. joke reversed in python film life of brian pretending men, including false beards, can go stoning. when throws first stone pharisee asks threw that, , answer did, did,... in high voices. there women here today? says, no no no in gruff voices.

in 1970s familiar drag artist on british television danny la rue. la rue s act music hall one, following on older, , less sexualised tradition of drag. appearances in variety shows such old days (itself pastiche of music hall) , sunday night @ london palladium. such popularity made film, our miss fred (1972). unlike st trinians films, plot involved man having dress woman.

kenny everett dragged in tv show ott screen star called cupid stunt. kenny particularly unconvincing woman because had beard lot of flesh-tone makeup applied. says in best possible taste exposed knickers re-crossed legs. in more of dame edna genre. david walliams , (especially) matt lucas play female roles in british television comedy little britain. walliams notably plays part of emily howard – rubbish transvestite, makes unconvincing woman.

in uk, non-comedic representations of drag acts less common, , subsidiary feature of story. rare exception television play (1968) , film (1973), best pair of legs in business. in film version reg varney plays holiday camp comedian , drag artist marriage failing.

music

the world of popular music has venerable history of drag. marlene dietrich popular actress , singer performed dressed man, such in films blue angel , morocco. in glam rock era many male performers (such david bowie , new york dolls) donned partial or full drag. tradition waned in late 1970s revived in new wave era of 1980s, pop singers boy george (of culture club), pete burns (of dead or alive), , philip oakey (of human league), appeared in sort of semi-drag, while female musicians of era dabbled in own form of androgyny, performers annie lennox, phranc , bloods performing drag kings. male grunge musicians of 1990s performed wearing deliberately ugly drag – is, wearing dresses making no attempt feminine, not wearing makeup , not shaving beards. (nirvana did several times, notably in in bloom video.) however, possibly famous drag artist in music in 1990s rupaul. in japan there several musicians in visual kei scene, such mana (moi dix mois , malice mizer), kaya (schwarz stein), hizaki , jasmine (both versailles), or appear in full or semi-drag. maximilliana worked rupual in nash bridges episode cuda grace , regular @ defunct queen mary show lounge in studio city, california until end. max (short maximilliana) known performance charlie/claire in ringmaster: jerry springer movie. max has appeared in other movies including shoot or shot , 10 attitudes on television shows including nash bridges mentioned above, clueless, gilmore girls, tonight show jay leno, mas vale tarde alex cambert, madtv, tyra banks show, tom joyner show, america s got talent, , many others. of november 11, 2011, maximilliana had released first album of original, fun, dance music lgbt community , made available on itunes, amazon.com , cdbaby.