Out on Stage: Lesbian and Gay Theater in the Twentieth Century

by Alan Sinfield

Book Overview

This intriguing and authoritative book tracks stage representations of lesbians and gay men from Oscar Wilde to the present day. Alan Sinfield argues that, despite and because of censorship and discretion, twentieth-century theater has been viewed as a gay space. When we attune ourselves to the idioms of the different decades, theater emerges as an important place for the circulation of images of homosexuality and for the exploration of concepts of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300191561
• ISBN13: 9780300191561
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

AN AB FAB WALK ON THE WILDE SIDE

What could be a drag is actually an in-depth, original look at stage representations of lesbians and gay men from Oscar Wilde to the present day. And what a wild ride it is! Author Alan Sinfield samples scores of British and American plays and playwrights (including Coward, Maugham, Hellman, Williams and O'Neill) and examines them in the contexts in which they were produced and viewed, whether it be the West End of London or the Lower East Side of New York. Most fascinating is how homosexuality views changed throughout he decades --- how the '60s produced an exuberant cultivation of "kinky" humor and gay political activism (think "Boys in the Band"); how AIDS impacted the theater (think "Love! Valor! Compassion!") Unlike the recently published "Something For The Boys," Sinfield knows how to write ... and rein in any subjective gushing. Ab Fab!