Was Shakespeare queer ?
– 2 min read
William Shakespeare’s sexuality, the homoerotic relationship between a talk show host and a composer, and the closeted world of Hollywood’s gay actors all feature on the London stage this month and next.
Scholars and LGBTQ+ commentators are undecided about whether our greatest playwright William Shakespeare was gay or possibly bisexual. One reason for the doubt is that such terms as gay and bi didn’t exist in Elizabethan England.
It‘s known that Shakespeare wrote over 120 of his love poem sonnets to a young man; and his play Richard II deals with a homosexual relationship at the heart of the monarchy. And in the 16th and 17th century romantic love between two men was commonplace.
Less doubt is cast on his contemporary Christopher Marlowe - playwright, adventurer, spy, whose play Edward II is about as explicit a queer drama as you can get even today. And Marlowe confessed to preferring boys for company.
Newly arrived in London’s West End, Born With Teeth, gets to grips with a collaboration between the two playwrights and may help to confirm whether there was a physical chemistry between them. It’s at Wyndhams Theatre. Footnote: there’s no proof they ever met or collaborated, though some believe they are one person.
Staged by the RSC, it also stars ex-Dr Who, queer actor Ncuti Gatwa, who has more than hinted in interviews that there is a sexual relationship between the two characters. Add to that Gatwa is an out gay actor and director Daniel Evans is also gay. Anyway I’ll let you know when I see it. It runs until 1 November.
The Code stars the marvellous Tracie Bennett as bisexual screen diva Tallulah Bankhead and runs from 12 September - 11 October at Southwark Playhouse.
It’s 1950 in Hollywood and gay actor Billy Haines has abandoned his position in the closet as an actor and become an interior designer. Powerful agent Henry Wilson appears with his protege Chad.
Can any of them survive without breaking the code of what is permissible and what is not. This is the world of studio politics, pretence, deceit and clandestine gay relationships. What a cocktail.
Good Night Oscar, currently at The Barbican, deals with what’s been described as “the homoerotic relationship” between actor, talk show host and concert pianist Oscar Levant and composer George Gershwin.
So close was their relationship said to be that when Gershwin died suddenly in his 30s, in 1937, Levant spent the rest of his life preserving George’s musical legacy. Indeed the first person to record Gershwin’s masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue after his passing was Levant.
The task of recreating Levant falls to gay actor Sean Hayes, best remembered for his starring role in TV sitcom Will and Grace. And he tops his bravura acting with a stunning rendition of Rhapsody in Blue at the keyboard.
