It hit me while watching As You Like It in Samuell-Grand Park last night: did Shakespeare do any comedies that didn’t involve crossdressing? (And don’t get me started on the whole escape-into-the-forest-and-find-the-meaning-of-love-among-savages trope.) Seriously, if a contemporary film director leaned on the ol’ crossdressing crutch as much as Willie, he’d be playing primarily on Fire Island screens, if you know what I mean.
Got interviewed by The Guardian yesterday, so British readers, keep an eye out.
7 thoughts on “shakespeare’s crossdressing, guardian interview”
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Nevermind the fact that back in the day there were no female actors, so all female characters were performed by men in drag.
But ultimately I think Will’s comedies were all about playing to the audience of the time. Cross-dressing was funny to the masses.
I wonder how convincing those 1600s actors were at being men playing women pretending to be men.
The Junior Players, who put on last night’s performance, had more female players than female roles, so quite a few of the male roles last night were played by girls. So you had some girls dressed up as guys who we were supposed to understand as guys, and some girls dressed up as guys who we were supposed to understand as girls dressed up as guys.
Almost makes you long for the straightforward days of Tony Curtis in a dress, flirting with Marilyn Monroe.
disregarding the all-male troops of the 1600’s, I believe the tempest did not feature any cross-dressing. =)
what did the guardian interview you about? i read them all the time and thinnk their reporting is excellent. good show on getting the interview!
Yes, The Guardian is great. Were you interviewed about U.S. education policy? Do tell!
Nice point about Shakespeare. I had an undergraduate professor who ventured into Queer Theory a little early. He raised the cross-dressing issue, too. I wonder if there’s any scholarship on the subject?
A quick Google search reveals that there’s no shortage of critical discussion of cross-dressing in Shakespeare’s work. Michael Shapiro appears to be an expert on the subject.
I was interviewed on the only subject I ever get interviewed about: Pitcairn Island and the sex scandal there.
was this on one of your “cheap date” escapades??
I’ve often wondered about the cross dressing thing too…I mean, I can’t imagine anyone mistaking *me* for a male judge…(ala Portia in Merchant of Venice)…