Wigs, laughter, and subversion : Charles Busch and strategies of drag performance

R. Niles

This paper examines the strategies of drag performer/playwright Charles Busch. His performance aesthetic is explored and shown to be subversive even though its initial impulse is to entertain. Basing my arguments on the work of Judith Butler, Elin Diamond, and others, I argue that drag queens like Busch can not only entertain but also make audiences question and criticize through drag_s power to create a Brechtian alienation effect and historicize the subject. After showing how he can be viewed as a drag queen, I give a brief biography and discuss such contested terms as "camp" and "gay sensibility." I then focus on Busch_s staged reading of Ibsen_s Hedda Gabler and A Doll_s House, both done in one afternoon at Theatre for The New City (6 May 2000). By examining the performance of Busch and his fellow actors, I demonstrate how a contemporary relevancy is achieved by having the roles played by a female impersonator whose acting choices are filtered through a gay sensibility. The ongoing dialectic between spectator and performer creates a historicized moment in performance that underscores the gender dynamics in unexpected and stimulating ways.[Copies are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Center. The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, USA]