Subversions of Gender and Desire in the Boy Actor's Theatre

150 Pages·2011·5.34 MB·English

by  Erin Julian

DANGEROUS BOYS
DANGEROUS BOYS AND CITYPLEASURES:
SUBVERSIONS OFGENDERAND DESIREINTHEBOY ACTOR'S THEATRE
By
ERIN JULIAN, B.A.
A Thesis
Submittedto theSchool ofGraduate Studies
inPartialFulfilmentofthe Requirements
for theDegree
MasterofArts
McMasterUniversity
© CopyrightbyErinJulian, September2010
MASTER OFARTS (2010) McMasterUniversity
(English andCulturalStudies) Hamilton, Ontario
TITLE: DangerousBoys andCityPleasure: Subversions ofGender andDesire
in the BoyActor's Theatre
AUTHOR: ErinJulian, B.A. (BrockUniversity)
SUPERVISOR: DrH.M. Ostovich
NUMBER OFPAGES: vi, 143
ii
ABSTRACT:
This thesis draws onthe works ofWillFisher, LucyMunro, Michael Shapiro,
andothercritics who have writtenonthe boy actorontheearly modemEnglishstage.
Focussingoncitycomedies performedbychildren's companies, itargues that the boy
actorfunctions as akind of"third gender" thatexceeds genderbinaries, and
interrogates powerhierarchies builtonthose gender binaries (includingmarriage).
The boy actoris neithermannorwoman, anddoes nothave theconfining
socialresponsibilities ofeither. This thesis argues thatthe boy's voice, his behaviours,
andhis epicenebody aresignifiers ofhisjoyous and unconfinedsocialposition.
Reading theboy actoras ametaphorfor thecity itself, itoriginally argues that the
boy's innocenceenableshim to participate inthe games, merriment, and general
celebration ofcarnival, while his ability to slip fluidly betweengenders, ages, and
othersocialroles enables him to participate inandembody the productively disruptive
carnival, parodic, and"epicene" spaces ofthecity itself. In these spaces, whengender
and ageexpectations are temporarily overthrown, individualbodies candesire, dress,
andperformhowever they want.
In persistentlyrecognising the boy actor's metabolic ability to metamorphose
its genderaccording to his own, orthe individual spectator's desire, and in so doing to
explore alternative modes ofliving andstructuringfamilies andothersocial
relationships inthecity,Amendsfor Ladies, Epicoene, The KnightoftheBurning
Pestle, EastwardHoi, RamAlley, andBartholomew Fair offerstrategies by which
individual bodies inthe audiencecanpursuetheirown individual alternativemodes of
living inthecity.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I am extremely grateful to my supervisory committee, DoctorsHelen
Ostovich, MelindaGough, andGenaZuroskiJenkins, for theircarefulreading (and
re-reading) ofvarious drafts, andfor the swiftand thorough commentary that
accompaniedeachreading. Withouttheirassistance, this projectwouldhavefar less
focus, andfar moreerrors. I amparticularly thankfulfor DrOstovich's guidance in
my considerationofperformancepractices and interpretation, andfor DrGough's
always helpfulrecommendations ofcriticalmaterial throughout the year. I am also
gratefulto Jesse Arseneault, BrandonKerfoot, StephanieLeach, andMathewMartin,
who were always willing toreadover paragraphs, and who notonly listenedto me
talk nigh-endlessly aboutboy actors butalso providedme withcoffee as I did so.
"A thankful [wo]manowes acourtesy ever"!
iv
TABLE OFCONTENTS:
1. TITLEPAGE .i
2. DESCRIPTIVENOTE ii
3. ABSTRACT iii
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iv
5. TABLEOFCONTENTS v
6. ABBREVIATIONS vi
7. INTRODUCTION: City Comedy, Boy Actors, andMarital Structures in
BenJonson's Epicoene 1
8. CHAPTERONE: Beards, Bawds, andBoys: GenderSatire inRamAlley
andBartholomewFair 32
9. CHAPTERTWO: NormativePlays: ActingEpiceneDesires inEpicoene
andAmendsfor Ladies 59
10. CHAPTERTHREE: "[B]ound1ess prodigality": TheBoyActor
Interrogates BenevolentMasculinity intheCities ofEastwardHoI and The
Knightofthe BurningPestle 95
11. CONCLUSION: London, City ofBoy Actors 127
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 132
v
ABBREVIATIONS
BTP Between Theater andPhilosophy: Scepticism in the Major City
Comedies ofBenJonson andThomas Middleton
CQR Children ofthe Queen'sRevels: A Jacobean Theatre Repertory
"Defense" "InDefenseoftheMarketplace: Spontaneous Order inJonson's
BartholomewFair"
"Delusion" "DelusionandDream"
"Friendship" "Mistress andMaid: Women'sFriendship inTheNew Inn"
Gender Gender inPlay on the Shakespearean Stage: BoyHeroines and
Female Pages
"Hermaphroditical" "HermaphroditicalAuthority inJonson's City Comedies"
Humoring Humoring theBody: Emotions andthe Shakespearean Stage
Idea The Idea ofthe City in theAge ofShakespeare
ILP Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis
"Introduction" "GeneralIntroduction"
"London" "LondonandUrbanSpace"
"Pig" "ThePig, theFair, Authorship"
"ProdigalSon" "Beaumont's The Knight ofthe BurningPestle and the Prodigal
SonPlays"
TC Theater ofa City: The Places ofLondon Comedy
"Transvestism" "Transvestismand the BodyBeneath: SpeculatingontheBoy
Actor"
"Women" "WomenandBoys PlayingShakespeare"
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MAThesis- E. Julian McMasterUniversity- EnglishandCulturalStudies
INTRODUCTION:
City Comedy, BoyActors, andMaritalStructures inBenJonson's Epicoene
"Whatdid aRenaissance audience see whenboy actors undressedonstage?"
("Transvestism" 64): PeterStallybrass's questionis avariationonaproblem thathas
longperplexedcritics pre-occupiedwith thefigure ofthe boy actorontheearly
modernstage. StephenOrgel poses asimilar question whenhe asks "why did the
Englishstagetakeboys for women?" (2). JulietDusinberrebroaches the problem
againinasking"were [women] there [onShakespeare's stage] ornot?" ("Women"
12). Eachofthesecritics is insomeform investigatingwhatanearly modernaudience
really saw whenitlooked atthebody oftheboy actor. This problemis centralto
Michael Shapiro's examinationoftheerotics ofboy actors inGenderinPlay on the
ShakespeareanStage, as itis central to KathleenMcLuskie's andLisaJardine's
negotiations oftherepresentative and the real qualities ofthe boy actor's body and
disguise, and to thecritical work thatforms the theoreticalbasis ofthis study
includingthatofCatherineBelsey, JonathanDollimore, RichardMadelaine,David
Kathman, JeanHoward, and others.
This thesis builds onthe workofthesecritics to propose thatthe boy actor
possesses anunashamedly "epicene" nature whichmakes him aproductivefigure on
city comedy's stage. Discursively, the boy actor is already nota"man," and is
acceptably allowed(by excuseoftheatricalconvention) to playaman, a woman, a
mandressed as a woman, awomandressedas aman, aboy orgirl, or any other
genderedrole. The boy actoriscapable oftakingon various meanings andexpressing
various - andoftennon-normative- desires. Whilehis capacity andlicense to play
these roles canonly express itselffully onthe early modernstage (andparticularly so
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MAThesis- E. Julian McMasterUniversity- English andCulturalStudies
onaboy company stage), the audience watchingcanmediatetheirownnon-normative
desires by gazing athis body and investing it withtheirowndesires. Individual
members ofthe audience mightthentake thesepractices into the"real" citybeyond
the stage.
I draw this argumentfrom originalyetby nowfamiliar ways ofreading the
boy actor's body. McLuskie understands this body as functioning (onthe
contemporary stage) primarily atthe representative level: "Theessentialism ofmodem
notions ofsexualitycannotbringtogetherthe image ofaboy andthe image ofa
coherentfemale personality, exceptthroughcamp notions ofsexuality as acohering
mode ofinterpretation" (130). LisaJardine argues, opposite to McLuskie:
The ordinaryplaygoerdoes notkeep constantly inhis orher mind the
cross-dressing implications of 'boys inwomen's parts,' butitis
nevertheless available to the dramatistas areferencepointfor dramatic
irony, ormore serious double entendre... [boyheroines] are sexually
enticingqua transvestiedboys, and...the plays encourage the audience
to view them as such. (60-61)
ForJardine, the prevalence ofboyheroines who cross-dress as pages draws too much
attentionto theconventionofboys playing womenfor audiences toever suspendtheir
disbeliefcompletely inorderto read thebodies only atthe representative level.
Shapiro adds thatevenwhenobvious gestures to the conventionofboys playing
womenwere absentfrom aperformance, the play texts themselves mighthave alluded
to theconvention: "Explicitverbal allusions inplays to cross-gendercasting arerare,
althoughany strong markerofgender, any verbalornonverbalmomentofreflexivity,
might wellhave hadaneffect" (Gender46). Shapiro adds his ownnegotiationof
Jardine's andMcLuskie's positions, suggesting thatboy actors couldoscillate
betweenshowing the boy's body beneathandtherepresentative level onthe surface,
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MAThesis- E. Julian McMasterUniversity- EnglishandCulturalStudies
arousing differenterotic desires inthe process. Stallybrassreaches asimilar
conclusion, arguing that the process ofundressingcalls attentionto the process of
creating and unfixinggender(againto differingerotic ends): "allattempts to fix
genderarenecessarily prosthetic: that is, they suggestthe attempt to supply an
imagineddeficiency by theexchangeofmaleclothes for female clothes"
("Transvestism" 77). RichardMadelainedoes notentirely dispute Shapiro, agreeing
withhis comments ontheendless ludic qualities ofthe layeredgendereddisguise and
the potentialfor diverseerotic effects, butadds the possibility thatboy actors
approached the taskofperformingheroines in boy disguiseas they wouldany
characterwithacompletely developedpsyche, andso suggests, contraryto Shapiro,
thatbothgenders couldmanifestequally inthe same body at thesame timeonstage
(increasingthe boyheroine's erotic allure).
Mostofthese critics agree thatacontemporary audiencecannottruly know
whatanearly modernaudiencesaw whenitlooked atthebody ofthe boy actor.
Shapiro reminds his readers thataudiences are too diversefor contemporary critics to
makecertainclaims abouthowany audience (butparticularly alostearly modern
audience) reactedto any performance(Gender2-3). Similarly, McLuskie suggests that
ourconceptofperformance is always mediatedby contemporary concerns with
gender (andthis mediationis thereason thatshedraws herconclusionsbasedon
audiencereactions to contemporary stagings). RobertaBarkerfollows McLuskie in
her survey ofvarious criticalreadings ofboy's bodies (including theones I outline
above), and adds thatearly modern audiences would have haddifferenterotic tastes
thancontemporary ones: modernspectators oftenwant to see "real women" anddo
not want"tobe involvedinanerotic encounterthatchallenges the boundaries oftheir
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