{"id":3414,"date":"2010-09-19T08:26:11","date_gmt":"2010-09-19T12:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/?p=3414"},"modified":"2010-09-19T08:28:26","modified_gmt":"2010-09-19T12:28:26","slug":"sir-please-cross-your-legs-on-stage-that%e2%80%99s-unladylike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/2010\/09\/sir-please-cross-your-legs-on-stage-that%e2%80%99s-unladylike\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir, please cross your legs on stage. That\u2019s unladylike."},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last month, I have seen Merry Wives of Windsor<\/a>, Bedlam<\/a>, Les Miserables, 39 Steps, and The Habit of Art<\/a>, which is significantly more theater in a very short time than I\u2019ve been able to see in the US. So that being said, I have to get my initial gushing about how excited I am that I\u2019ve had this great opportunity and how it\u2019s really great that London makes its arts so cheap to attend and accessible to the public. I say this mostly because I\u2019m genuinely thrilled. I really can\u2019t get over how awesome it is that I get to see all this stuff as part of a class for really cheap. I think that although Kate Fox talks about the English egalitarian sentiment as a largely hypocritical fa\u00e7ade for a very unequal class system, the English really do an amazing job of making beauty accessible to everyone \u2013 free museums, cheap theater, beautiful parks, etc. (I also say this because my mom keeps reading my Dickinson blog \u2013 hi Mom! \u2013 and it\u2019s a super cranky blog because American Studies has trained me that when I analyze, I must be angry and critical of society). But anyway, everyone has already talked about the accessibility of beauty. So I\u2019m going to do the other thing that American Studies has trained me for: talk about something inappropriate and pretend it\u2019s academic.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s topic is cross-dressing. Out of all the plays I\u2019ve seen, Les Mis was the only one that did not contain a prominent cross dressing scene, and it\u2019s not English in origin. Bedlam was so intent on having a cross-dressing scene that it didn\u2019t even matter that there was no explanation for it in the plot. The Habit of Art was not even a comedy, and it still had a cross-dressing scene. What part of the English psyche demands a man in drag so intently that it has become a staple of theater?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kate Fox would probably say it\u2019s the \u201cimportance of not being earnest,\u201d the idea that one must never take oneself too seriously (62, 63). Serious plays must be offset by something self-deprecating and silly, and comedies must contain some form of low brow humor to offset the perception that the jokes are too high and pleased with themselves. (American Studies Jesse would at this point start discussing: 1. The sexism in the idea that a man in drag is funnier and more self-deprecating than a woman in drag because women are less valued in society. 2. The classism in the language of \u201chigh brow\u201d and \u201clow brow\u201d and how it creates a humor hierarchy that perpetuates class stereotypes about intelligence and arrogance. But American Studies Jesse is going back into her angry-at-society box now, away from this discussion).<\/p>\n

What Kate Fox does not address, is why the \u201cimportance of not being earnest\u201d specifically manifests itself in the form of men in dresses and stockings. Sexism and classism are not exclusive to England, and they\u2019re too easy an answer. One of my theories has to do with Liz\u2019s favorite topic, Shakespeare. Shakespeare seems to be a huge point of national pride for the English, and his plays contained a lot of cross dressing for comedic purposes, plot purposes (i.e. The Twelfth Night), and for the practical purpose that only men used to act so they would have to play women\u2019s parts. Maybe the influence of Shakespeare has seeped its way into modern theater in the form of cross dressing. I definitely think at least Leyshon felt some pressure to write some Shakespearean humor into Bedlam since it was performed at the Globe.<\/p>\n

My other theory has to do with the absolute silliness of the men\u2019s outfits that we saw in National Portrait Gallery<\/a>. We look upon the tights, lacy and velvety frills and fabrics, codpieces, and otherwise ridiculous jewelry of the upper class men from the Tudor and Stewart line with the same out of context amusement that we see in the stupid haircuts of cool kids in our parents undoubtedly see in skinny jean leggings. Maybe the history men\u2019s fashion, some of which is totally effeminate by today\u2019s standards, has affected theater. Every time an English person see a man in a dress and suspenders maybe it hearkens back to the old days of the monarchy and the glory of the empire. (Fun fact: Vicky taught me yesterday that in England, suspenders are those little clasps that women use to hold their stockings up rather than straps that old people and people that enjoy ska music use to hold up their pants).<\/p>\n

For more information on cross-dressing in theater, here is an article from the Guardian: http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/stage\/theatreblog\/2007\/sep\/07\/whatilikeaboutcrossdressin<\/a><\/p>\n

I welcome any other ideas.<\/p>\n

P.S. Mom, England is very fun and educational and full non drag queen related learning experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last month, I have seen Merry Wives of Windsor, Bedlam, Les Miserables, 39 Steps, and The Habit of Art, which is significantly more theater in a very short time than I\u2019ve been able to see in the US. So that being said, I have to get my initial gushing about how excited I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6671],"tags":[15124,6774,15151,15152,6773,961,15147,1137,1373],"class_list":["post-3414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2010-jesse","tag-39-steps","tag-bedlam","tag-cross-dressing","tag-mens-fashion","tag-merry-wives-of-windsor","tag-shakespeare","tag-the-habit-of-art","tag-theater","tag-watching-the-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}