Out on Stage: Lesbian and Gay Theater in the Twentieth Century

Library Journal

Sinfield (English, Univ. of Sussex; The Wilde Century) has produced the most thorough critical history of queer representation on the stage to date. Sinfield's coverage of both lesbian and gay male theater and his seamless discussion of both British and U.S. theater surpasses John M. Clum's Acting Gay (LJ 3/1/92). Working in a roughly chronological order, he analyzes plays in chapters that highlight common themes or strategies. For example, he focuses on plays in which identity, family unity, or social stability is threatened by queer characters (who often never appear onstage). Gays and lesbians were portrayed obliquely (at best) through much of the first three quarters of the century, and Sinfield shows how more positive portrayals and even acceptance of gays in mainstream theater have taken place since, roughly, the early 1980s. Despite this acceptance, he argues, there is still a role for what he calls the "subcultural work" of queer theater, one that speaks to gays and lesbians on their own terms. Essential for academic libraries supporting queer cultural studies and highly recommended for those supporting upper-level undergraduate and graduate studies in modern drama.--Robert W. Melton, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.