Performing Queer Shakespeare by Chad Allen Thomas A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (English Language and Literature) in the University of Michigan 2009 Doctoral Committee: Professor Valerie J. Traub, Chair Professor David M. Halperin Professor Barbara C. Hodgdon Assistant Professor Jane Westlake i © Chad Allen Thomas 2009 For Steve Burrus, with my deepest gratitude. ii Acknowledgements This has been one tough trek, and I could not have gotten to the end without a great deal of support. First, I would like to acknowledge the debt I owe my dissertation committee. David Halperin, Barbara Hodgdon, and E.J. Westlake have been supportive, demanding, generous, and all-around excellent advisors. My biggest debt of gratitude, however, goes to my dissertation chair, Valerie Traub, who helped me give a form to inchoate flashes of queer identification. Without belaboring the point, I could not have even conceived this dissertation without Valerie – she was companionate, patient, rigorous, disciplined, an advocate and truly visionary. At Michigan, my cohort and colleagues in the English department have been incredibly supportive, and I feel humbled to be part of such fantastic company. In particular, my dissertation writing group was vital in helping clarify my ideas and shape my argument: Kentston Bauman, LaMont Egle, Gavin Hollis, David Lavinsky, and Amy Rodgers. At Michigan, the Early Modern Colloquium was a valuable resource, and usually good for a laugh or two, so thanks are owed to several generations of participants: Jenny Evenson, Holly Dugan, Marjorie Rubright, Laura Ambrose, Aaron McCullough, Ari Friedlander, and Katie Will. The faculty at Michigan has been also incredibly helpful, and I would be remiss without acknowledging the various good works of Sara Blair, Gregg Crane, Linda Gregerson, Holly Hughes, Bill Ingram, Jonathan Metzyl, Steve Mullaney, Mike Schoenfeldt, Karla Taylor, Terri Tinkle, Martha Vicinus, and Ralph iii Williams. A special thanks, as well, goes to Jan Burgess, the graduate student services coordinator in the Department of English Language and Literature. I could not have pursued this project without generous travel grants and fellowship support from the University of Michigan‘s Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the Department of English Language and Literature. I owe a tremendous debt, and a great deal of evidence, to the dedicated archivists and librarians at Cheek by Jowl, the National Theatre, the Scottish Theatre Archive at the University of Glasgow, the Shakespeare Centre, Shakespeare‘s Globe Theatre, the Theatre Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan. Special thanks also go to Rebecca Patterson and the actors of the Queen‘s Company for inviting me to participate in a talk-back and happily answering all my inquiries. I also owe thanks to the faculty at the University of North Texas, who imparted the skills necessary to get to Michigan. In particular, Jacqueline Vanhoutte turned me from actor to scholar, and taught me how to read plays like a critic. Also, deepest thanks to Paige Reynolds, a most excellent colleague from North Texas who remains my close friend and role model for how to incorporate acting and academia. Special thanks also go to Kestutis Nakas, who first introduced me to queer Shakespeare as an undergrad at the University of New Mexico. I send best regards to my former colleagues at JR‘s Bar and Grill (Caven Enterprises) in Dallas, where I tended bar for many, many years, especially Stuart Heineman. Thanks as well to all those friends near and far who contributed to my success in this project, including Luke Doles, Dan Evans, Tara Hein-Phillips, Sara Saltee, iv Andrea Walters, and Brad Woolbright. Thanks to IRGW‘s Community of Scholars‘ fellows for helping me find my voice in this project, to my colleagues from the Medieval/Early Modern Studies dissertation pro-seminars for listening to ideas that so often fell so far outside their temporal comfort zones, and to fellow participants in the Big Ten/CIC Theory Institute for helping me get comfortable talking about my ideas. Also, Delia DeCourcy and Jennifer Metsker at the Gayle Morris Sweetland Writing Center pushed me across the finish line, just when I most needed a helpful shove. Throughout this long, strange trip, my family has been a constant source of emotional, spiritual, and financial support. Special thanks to my mom and step-dad, Jan and Richard Vigliano, and well as my dad and step-mom, Allen and Sandy Thomas. Thanks to my partner, David Hall, for too many kindnesses to list, and our love-child Cellie, a chow-chow/Labrador mix who never failed to tell me when it was time to take a break and helped me keep perspective even in desperate times. Thanks, finally to Steve Burrus, my roommate, best friend, and surrogate parent (sans weird parental hang-ups). Steve died on August 7, 2002, two weeks before I moved to Michigan, but he was on this journey with me every day, every step. He showed me the greatest benevolence and had a faith in me that was bigger than my own. He left too soon, and I miss him terribly. For Steve, I propose a taking moment a silence before turning the page and getting to the good stuff. He‘d like that. v Preface My journey to academia started as an actor, with a back-story including time as a graduate student at the University of North Texas, several years with Impulse Productions in Dallas (a theatre company that I co-founded and co-operated), three seasons with Shakespeare in Santa Fe, and a Ridiculous-inspired first-contact with queer Shakespeare at the University of New Mexico. However, even before my queer Titus experience, I began a complicated, oftentimes tortured relationship with ―text‖ by taking Shakespeare as literature classes to supplement my acting coursework. The text gave characters their words and provided existential reasons for their wants, needs, fears, and objectives, offering a blueprint for acting a role. However, text was also just words on a page – personal experiences guided my interpretation of a role, brought the words to life, and changed it into something unique: a performance. At the same time that I was negotiating this textual duality, I started to self- identify as gay. Coming out changed how I viewed the world and how I imagined the world viewed me. It provided a sense of belonging and community, but it was also scary – I saw dozens of men waste away from AIDS-related illnesses. They included both casual acquaintances and close friends, not just guys from the local bars, but men I admired, such as Kenny and Larry from The Honeybees (the best 1960s drag troupe ever), and even instructors from my acting program. Yet as frightening as it was to watch vi so many people from my small corner of the world die, it also made me mad, made me political, and provided me with a sense of purpose. I am formed from this confluence of theatre, Shakespeare and sexual identity, with scholarship informed by feelings of intense pleasure and desire, and fashioned from anger and anxiety. vii Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................iii Preface ..............................................................................................................................vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................x Abstract ............................................................................................................................xii Chapter One: How to Perform Shakespeare Queer ....................................................................1 Project Parameters ...............................................................................................5 Queering Cross-Gender Casting ..........................................................................12 Defining Terms: ―Queer‖ .....................................................................................19 Defining Terms, Take 2: Queer Theater ..............................................................23 Defining Terms, Take 3: Performance .................................................................28 Defining Terms, Take 4: Performance, Archive, Repertoire ...............................30 Looking Gay ........................................................................................................35 Queer Historicism ................................................................................................38 Performing Shakespeare Queer ............................................................................42 Subsequent Chapters ............................................................................................45 Chapter Two: The Queer Roots of Citz‘ Shakespeare ................................................................49 Material Afterlives ...............................................................................................58 Shakespeare and the Citz‘ Style ...........................................................................63 Shakespeare as Queer Icon ..................................................................................67