“A must-read for anyone interested in the history of drag performance.”—Publishers Weekly
A rich and provocative history of drag's importance in modern British culture.

Drag: A British History is a groundbreaking study of the sustained popularity and changing forms of male drag performance in modern Britain. With this book, Jacob Bloomfield provides fresh perspectives on drag and recovers previously neglected episodes in the history of the art form.

Despite its transgressive associations, drag has persisted as an intrinsic, and common, part of British popular culture—drag artists have consistently asserted themselves as some of the most renowned and significant entertainers of their day. As Bloomfield demonstrates, drag was also at the center of public discussions around gender and sexuality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from Victorian sex scandals to the "permissive society" of the 1960s. This compelling new history demythologizes drag, stressing its ordinariness while affirming its important place in British cultural heritage.

About the Author

Jacob Bloomfield is Zukunftskolleg Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Konstanz and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent. His research is situated primarily in the fields of cultural history, the history of sexuality, and gender history. He is currently working on a book about the historical reception to musician Little Richard in the United States and Europe.

Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Old Mother Riley and the Modern Dame
2 Splinters: Cross-Dressing Ex-Servicemen on the Interwar Stage
3 Danny La Rue: Conservative Drag in the “Permissive Society”
4 Skirting the Censor: Drag and the Censorship of the British Theater, 1939–1968

Epilogue: How Queer Is Drag?

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

"A must-read for anyone interested in the history of drag performance."
— Publishers Weekly

"An excellent examination of the complexities of various forms of stage drag and its mainstay role in British popular culture."
— Library Journal

"A new look at the history of drag. . . . Bloomfield illustrates how drag has long been a complex yet ‘ordinary’ artform, historically straddling queer radicalism and mass entertainment along the way."
— ArtReview

"A thoughtful and fascinating read."
— Everything Theater

"A fascinating overview of the story of British drag artists."
— Aleks Sierz

"An excellent primer to the complexities of drag as ‘a queer art form’ and so much else besides."

— New Humanist

"Dr. Jacob Bloomfield is the uncontested expert when it comes to the history of drag in this country."
— The Herald

"A rich and fascinating account about female impersonation that will greatly add to contemporary, often ahistorical, understandings of drag."
— CHOICE

"A fascinating and richly illustrated history."
— Journal of Social History

"An eloquent model of how to map the meeting points between theatre and social history."
— Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film

"Drag: A British History is a foundational work. It tells a great story, commands a wide array of sources, and maintains a clear sense of purpose. Drag is of significant value to theater history, British studies, and cultural studies of drag."—Lisa Sigel, author of The People's Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America

"This first sustained and systematic academic history of drag in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain is written with a clear sense of how drag's nature, reception, and regulation have changed radically over time and have varied dramatically depending on its content and location. A wonderful read that has the potential to make a real impact on academic and nonacademic audiences alike."—Matt Houlbrook, author of Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918–1957

"Erudite and extraordinarily informative, this is also an incredible read. Jacob Bloomfield's deep dive into the unfolding cavalcade of nineteenth- and twentieth-century theatrical history, queer cultures, evolving understandings of sex and gender, and the emotional thrill of masquerade is intellectually vibrant and compelling. A must-read for fans of drag, queer historians, and mavens of popular culture."—Michael Bronski, author of A Queer History of the United States

"Bloomfield's meticulously researched and beautifully written history of British drag is a joy to read, illuminating, contextualizing, and, indeed, rescuing this neglected strand of sexual and cultural history."—Neil McKenna, author of Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England

About the Book

About the Author

Table of Contents

Reviews