Customer Reviews

Fascinating challenge to the status quo of British Theatre - By: mr d b horrigan, 10 Mar 2003
Like all good writing this book offers us an alternative to what we take for granted. The reader will find an alternative queer history of theatre, substantiated by meticulous research, made accessable through a wonderfully engaging writing style. Close attention is paid to the cultural standards of lifein Britain, with fascinating analysis of the decline of Empire, & the extraordinary lengths to which many went to reconstitute Britain's placein the world. This filtered down to the private & public realm, divided along a binary faultline, which Rebellato exposes beautifully.Along with the cultural anthropology are some dynamic textual analysis from some of the most fascinating plays of the era, Rebellato links these plays to a sense of alienation, or a divorce of feeling - which he exposes as a cultural anxiety & not a failing of playwriting of the period. It is fascinating to see the emergence of coding & identifying the place of the homosexual within theatre, & it is doubly amazing to see the camp culture that emerged from this scrutiny. Surprise is a constant element of the work.
Great fun, & thought provoking.