Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
- Cambridge Companions to Theatre and Performance
- The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology of British Theatre since 1945
- Introduction
- Part I Theatre Makers
- Part II Theatre Sectors
- Part III Theatre Communities
- Chapter 7 Audiences
- Chapter 8 Black British Theatre
- Chapter 9 Queer Theatre
- Part IV Theatre and State
- Further Reading
- Index
- Other Volumes in the Series of Cambridge Companions (continued from p.ii)
Chapter 9 - Queer Theatre
Reclaiming Histories, Historicising, and Hope
from Part III - Theatre Communities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2024
- The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
- Cambridge Companions to Theatre and Performance
- The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology of British Theatre since 1945
- Introduction
- Part I Theatre Makers
- Part II Theatre Sectors
- Part III Theatre Communities
- Chapter 7 Audiences
- Chapter 8 Black British Theatre
- Chapter 9 Queer Theatre
- Part IV Theatre and State
- Further Reading
- Index
- Other Volumes in the Series of Cambridge Companions (continued from p.ii)
Summary
This chapter explores queer theatre’s continued preoccupation with history, arguing that its persistent attention to the past is part of a broader cultural project of recuperation. By attending to the legislative and social landscape that has criminalised and excluded LGBT+ people in Britain alongside historic moments of political change, the chapter illuminates how queer theatre has been configured by the historical conditions of its production. The chapter traces both the emergence of queer theatre and the sites it continues to move across, from fringe venues and queer arts festivals to national cultural events. It then examines the multiplicity of ways that histories have been produced, remade, or recovered in performance, drawing on the work of queer theatre makers including Gay Sweatshop, Emma Frankland, Nando Messias, David Hoyle, Drew Taylor-Wilson, Elgan Rhys, Rosana Cade, Jo Clifford, Milk Presents, DUCKIE, and Mojisola Adebayo. In continuing to return to the past, queer theatre recovers previously excluded marginalised lives and experiences in Britain, disrupts linear narratives of progress that accompany LGBT+ politics, and makes space for reimagined futures.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945 , pp. 185 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024