Contemporary Drag Practices and Performers

Mark (Edge Hill University Edward

ISBN 10: 1350082945 / ISBN 13: 9781350082946

Published by Bloomsbury Academic Methuen Mär 2020, 2020

About this Item

Neuware - In recent years drag performance has moved from the fringes to emerge as a mainstream phenomenon, showcased on TV shows in the US and the UK.This collection offers a diverse range of critical engagements by drag performers, makers, scholars and writers reflecting on work from the UK, USA, Israel, Germany and Australia. Moving beyond discussions of gender theory, the essays consider contemporary drag performance practices, connecting them to the histories, communities and politics that produced them. Chapters range across discussions of drag kings in the US, UK and drag and activism; the influence of RuPaul on the generation of new forms of work in New York; transfeminist critiques of drag; 'bio'/faux queens;engagements with race and ethnicity through drag performance; drag andragogy; audience concerns; drag intersections with animal personas, and how drag performance relates to personal narratives of history and identity. Collectively the contributions focus on drag as a mode of performance that is diverse and that uncorsets the easy thought that drag is simply a cross dressing man in a dress or a woman in a suit.

Seller Inventory # 9781350082946

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Contemporary Drag Practices and Performers
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic Methuen Mär 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350082945
• ISBN 13: 9781350082946
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 220W x 123H x 19D millimeters 220 millimeters width by 123 millimeters height by 19 millimeters depth
• Weight: 496 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In recent years drag performance has moved from the fringes to emerge as a mainstream phenomenon, showcased on TV shows in the US and the UK.

This collection offers a diverse range of critical engagements by drag performers, makers, scholars and writers reflecting on work from the UK, USA, Israel, Germany and Australia. Moving beyond discussions of gender theory, the essays consider contemporary drag performance practices, connecting them to the histories, communities and politics that produced them.

Chapters range across discussions of drag kings in the US, UK and drag and activism; the influence of RuPaul on the generation of new forms of work in New York; transfeminist critiques of drag; ‘bio’/faux queens;
engagements with race and ethnicity through drag performance; drag andragogy; audience concerns; drag intersections with animal personas, and how drag performance relates to personal narratives of history and identity.

Collectively the contributions focus on drag as a mode of performance that is diverse and that uncorsets the easy thought that drag is simply a cross dressing man in a dress or a woman in a suit.

About the Authors

Mark Edward is a pracademic and a category dodger. His performance work in live art, contemporary dance performance, theatre, drag and post-modern choreography are often rooted in political and social narratives such as fat body shaming, age(eing) invisibility, homophobia, toxic and bruised masculinity, disability, mental health, class and him being neurodivergent as a ADHDancer and ADHDrag. He has featured in Attitude magazine, Scene magazine and GT magazine, and been interviewed for several BBC radio and TV documentaries, focusing on drag histories and activism, with drag performers Choriza May, Mutha Tucka and Miss Dixie Swallows. He has also featured in ‘The History of Drag’ documentary, alongside Boy George, lanah.p and Ginny Lemon. His research into drag cultures provided the content for the three-part BBC ‘Drag Herstories’ series. He is the author of the book ‘Mesearch and the Performing Body’ (Palgrave), and co-editor (alongside Professor Stephen Farrier) of the books ‘Contemporary Drag Practices and Performers: Drag in a Changing Scene vol 1’, ‘Drag Histories, Herstories and Hairstories; Drag in a Changing Scene vol 2’ and ‘Drag: the Basics’ (Routledge) with Professor Chris Greenough. He is the writer, and producer of the acclaimed immersive installation work ‘Council House Movie Star’ and the the first person to bring practical drag studies into higher education. He has performed with and worked for a range of arts organisations and artists including Rambert Dance, Senza Tempo Dance Theatre, Penny Arcade in her pivotal work ‘Bad Reputation’ and with the Australian performance activist Jeremy Goldstein in his ‘Truth to Power Cafè’.

Stephen Farrier, PhD is Professor and Deputy Principal at Rose Bruford College, UK. Broadly, his work focuses on queer performance and its histories, and community performance practices related to gender and sexuality. In 2023 he co-edited a special double edition of Contemporary Theatre Review, entitled ‘What’s Queer about Queer Performance Now?’ with Alyson Campbell and Manola-Gayatri Kumarswamy. Since co-editing work with Alyson Campbell on Queer Dramaturgies: International Perspectives on Where Performance Leads Queer (2015) he has with, Mark Edward for Bloomsbury, co-edited the previous two volumes of this current edited collection on drag performance: Contemporary Drag Performers and Practices: Drag in a Changing Scene, Vol. 1 (2020) and Drag Histories, Herstories and Hairstories: Drag in a Changing Scene, Vol. 2 (2021). He has written on the playwright Joe Orton for Studies in Theatre and Performance (37(2), 2017) and intergenerational queer performance work for the Journal of Homosexuality (62(10), 2015). He has written many chapters for various edited collections on a range of areas connected to queer performance, from HIV/AIDS narratives to queer readings of the work of Sarah Kane. In addition to his research outputs, he is active in his sector organizations and supports Research Integrity through ethics work.