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Synopsis
This volume makes available an international collection of plays, from Britain, the US, Germany, France and Russia, providing an essential and fascinating resource for anyone interested in the theatre culture of this period.
Lovesick brings together six plays, each with individual introductions, including an author biography and a production history. The editor provides a contextual introduction to the volume offering valuable information about the ancestry of gay theatre and queer performance.
The anthology reveals how 'sexual deviance' made its way into the drama of this time, and also how homosexual playwrights used comic or lyrical devices in order to celebrate a 'superior sensibility'.
Library Journal
During the period in which the six plays in this anthology were written and first performed, homosexuality was beginning to "come out of the closet" and be used as a theme in art and literature. The plays, which represent the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, and France, depict varying types of same-sex love. Included are The Blackmailer, a society comedy by associates of Oscar Wilde, and Ania and Esther by Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann. Each play is accompanied by an introduction, author biography, and production history. Senelick (drama, Tufts) provides a valuable introduction to the history of gay theater. While most of the plays offer a rather negative view of same-sex love, they do represent an important piece of gay and lesbian history. Recommended for theater arts and gay/lesbian collections.--Howard Miller, St. Louis