Contemporary British Queer Performance

If the 1970s saw the first appearance of lesbian and gay dramas, the 1990s have seen the rise of a broader but more troublesome claim on queer performance. If no longer tied to the politics of 'coming out' and the question of visibility, for whom and how does queer performance act? Drawing on queer theory's questioning of identity, representation and authenticity, this volume presents a genealogy of performance practice which begins in discussion of Gay Sweatshop (the UK's first openly lesbian and gay theatre company) before turning to examine where its foundational priorities and aspirations have been transformed in works and practice of the last twenty years.

Grounded in practitioner and audience accounts of performance, this book examines works produced in a range of new contexts to argue for the significance of collaborative practices across Britain: as national and community histories; as protest and activism; as theatre-in-education and applied theatre; and within the UK's queer arts festivals.

Review: ' Stephen Greer's Contemporary British Queer Performance is a welcome addition to critical work on performance practices that engage with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) subjectivities, communities, and politics in the United Kingdom, adding to the range of studies in this area... [The book] will be of particular use to students interested in how performance might be mobilised in the service of individuals, groups, and communities with a range of sexual identifications.' - Catherine Silverstone, Contemporary Theatre Review