Still Acting Gay: Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama

This reprint (with some revision and a new chapter) of John Clum's classic 1991 study should be shelved beside Alan Sinfield's Out on Stage (1999) in the library of anyone interested in theater or gay culture. In his introduction to this new edition, Clum offers his work as a "testament to the importance of gay playwrights in the history of American and British theatre," while acknowledging that in the 21st century, the stage no longer holds a central role in gay cultural life, especially for young urban queers: "We're the subjects of serious, gay-created movies. Gay writers and pundits are on chat shows. There are celebrated openly gay rock stars. Which is to say that gay men no longer need to go to the theater to see ourselves and our lives and that gay dramatic writers no longer see the theater as the only medium open to us." Nevertheless, as Clum argues, gay drama of the past 70 years is a good place to look for both sanctioned and unsanctioned representations of homosexual characters and gay life, and perhaps (given the historical association of queers and theater) the best place to trace these changing images. His section on Tennessee Williams (updated here) is especially good, as is his long and celebratory treatment of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. --Regina Marler