Cross-gender acting

Ancient Greece During the early development of ancient Greek theatre in the sixth century BC, both Athenian women and men performed. By the fifth century, changing Athenian cultural codes excluded women from public life, and thus the theatre. After this point, men played both male and female roles. English Renaissance theatre In Renaissance England, women were forbidden from performing on stage, so female roles in the plays of William Shakespeare and his contemporary playwrights were originally played by cross-dressing men or boys. (See also Stage Beauty.) Therefore, the original productions of the above-mentioned Shakespeare plays actually involved double-cross-dressing: male actors playing female characters disguising themselves as males. Academic research into the contemporary attitudes towards the practise have yielded a variety of interpretations. Historian Laura Levine argues that "an all-male acting troupe was the natural and unremarkable product of a culture whose conception of gender was "teleologically male". Gender distinction and cross-gender acting Cross-gender acting, while not specifically making a statement about crossdressing, helped produce negative judgements and statements about those who did cross-dress in the Renaissance era. Some instances of female-to-male cross-dressing in theatre allowed women to challenge patriarchal notions of gender and explore both masculinity and femininity within this hierarchy. In The Roaring Girl, the protagonist, Moll, cross-dresses for liberty rather than safety, and thus exists in both male and female spaces. Once male actors stepped into the roles of women, it was feared that they would adopt transgressive feminine traits, which led to the belief that crossdressing was an undisciplined act. While troubling to some, the idea of female impersonation proved that gender was malleable when it came to England in the Renaissance Era. Theatre was considered a more acceptable venue for crossdressing, chiefly because it confined the act to a distinct place. Shakespeare has been criticized for inciting male spectator desire on boy-to-female characters in his plays such as As You Like It, where boys played highly sexualized female characters. Going back as far as the Tang dynasty, both men and women played roles of the opposite sex in theatre. For women in the Yuan dynasty, cross-gender acting was liberating, as playing men allowed to embark on scholarly pursuits typically restricted from women. Despite this partial liberty, female actors were treated like prostitutes. During the Qing dynasty, women were prohibited from performing at all due to imperial anxieties about female sexuality. There was a fascination with female cross-dressers particularly (women dressed as men), who were "extremely popular" in the "Golden Age Comedia". Male actors might play the "women dressed as men" parts. Spain eventually found this cross-dressing to be threatening to social order, and passed laws targeting female transvestites throughout the 1600s. In the Ballet de cour tradition, men often played women. Famously, King Louis XIV performed in many such roles. For Louis XIV, cross-dressing in a theatre context was not satirical but rather a show of power. When performing, these men dressed in distinct costumes. They wore skirts, but their hemlines rose above the knee, displaying their thighs in a style that would have been prohibited for women but was permitted for men. This placed these roles in a third category that was neither man nor woman precisely. == 19th and 20th century cross-gender acting ==

as Serse in a 2009 production of Serse at the Royal Swedish Opera. American and European theatre, operas, plays, ballets and pantomime A travesti is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. More specifically, a theatrical or operatic role in which an actress appears in male clothing is called a "breeches role" ("pants role" or "trouser role"), and roles once performed by a male soprano castrato may instead be performed by a female mezzo-soprano or contralto. In the late 19th century, one of the most famous actresses was Vesta Tilley, who worked in a music hall from age five well into her fifties. In the late 1890s, she was the highest paid woman in Britain. What made her so famous was her tendency to dress as a man and act out "masculine" scenes and roles. Centuries before, Julie d'Aubigny, aka "La Maupin" (1670–1707), had also been famous for her breeches roles. as Prince Hamlet in June 1899.|left In 1904, Nina Boucicault originated the theatrical tradition of cross-sex casting for Peter Pan, continued thereafter by Maude Adams, Marilyn Miller, Eva Le Gallienne, Sandy Duncan, and Cathy Rigby, among others. In 1954 Mary Martin portrayed the title character in the musical Peter Pan. "The boy who would never grow up" is a classic trouser role, as is Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (by Beaumarchais). In pantomime plays that are traditionally adaptations of fairy tales and performed around Christmastide, the role of lead male was once commonly played by a principal boy—a young, attractive, female. This practise has fallen out of favour recently, with popular male television and pop stars taking these roles. Conversely, the role of a pantomime dame, a middle aged woman played by a man in drag for comic relief, is still one of the mainstays of panto. Similarly, Georgy Millyar played a role of Baba Yaga, an ugly old woman with supernatural abilities in a dozen of films, including Vasilisa the Beautiful (1940) and Jack Frost (1964). He used to say that an actress does not ever allow anyone to make her that ugly, while he does. French salon theatre Into the 19th and 20th centuries, French anthropologist Jane Dieulafoy and her husband Marcel hosted private salons where they staged classical plays. The genders of the characters stayed true to the original texts, but the actors were cast blindly with no regard for gender. Chinese theatre After the May Fourth Movement in the 1910s, women were once again permitted to perform in China, and both men and women were cast true to their gender. Although male performers were introduced into this opera in the 1950s and 1960s, today, Yue opera is still associated as the only all female opera and the second most popular opera in China. Japanese theatre The Takarazuka Revue The Takarazuka Revue is a contemporary all-female Japanese acting company, known for their elaborate productions of stage musicals. Female performers act in both male and female roles. Takarazuka was created in the early 20th century by Ichizō Kobayashi Takarazuka. The performers attend the Takarazuka Music School (Takarazuka Ongaku Gakkō) for two years to receive training. Actresses specialize in either male roles (otokoyaku) or female roles (musumeyaku), with male-role actresses receiving top billing. The performers are evaluated based on appearance, behavioral performance ability, and facial/body signifiers (e.g. jaw structure, eyebrows, height, shoulder span). Additionally, behavioral test runs examine the voice, mannerisms, and overall persona of the performers. Gender politics and the otokoyaku Despite providing opportunities for women onstage, the structure of Takarazuka still reflected the patriarchal control of Japan. The musumeyaku represented fictional, masculinist recreations of women. As for the otokoyaku, their roles aimed to emulate a model man that women would desire. Therefore, while the otokoyaku presents a male guise that is the “risoteki na dansei” (ideal man) women are attracted to, the otokoyaku also represents a type of androgynous freedom for the female viewer. Fans see women breaking the confines of societal expectations, as well as embracing the feminine side of the male-masculine image. However, despite this progressive multi-dimensional role of the otokoyaku, the reality of expressing these interpretations onstage is limited for the performers. At the Empress Menen Girls' Boarding School, Ethiopian scholar, writer, and politician Senedu Gebru wrote and directed plays for her female students between 1942 and 1955. With the students' parents as audience members, these plays were performed at the end of the school year. Girls played both male and female roles. == Modern practices of cross-gender acting ==

In animations and video games, it is not unusual for female actors to voice young male characters, especially prepubescent ones. Notable examples are Nancy Cartwright voicing Bart Simpson in The Simpsons and Junko Takeuchi voicing Naruto Uzumaki in the anime series Naruto. Voice actress Tara Strong has voiced multiple young male characters such as Timmy Turner and Ben Tennyson. Instances of male actors voicing female characters have also occurred, including Bob Peterson as Roz in Monsters, Inc. and Brad Bird as Edna Mode in the Incredibles franchise. In musical theatre, some characters have become synonymous with cross-sex acting. The musical Hairspray frequently sees a male actor portraying the female role of Edna Turnblad, whilst the role of Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical is traditionally a male performer. However, whilst Edna was played by a cross cast John Travolta in the film adaptation, Miss Trunchbull in the film of Matilda was instead played by actress Emma Thompson. In children's theatre productions, male roles will often be played by girls due to the majority of children participating in theatre at a young age being girls. When the casting director of a production decides to employ cross-sex acting, selecting the actors in this way is sometimes also called "cross-sex casting" or simply "cross-casting". Increasingly, modern American theatre is cast "blindly," in which roles are determined based on talent, regardless of "gender, race, age, and body type." Film and television examples Meta examples • Tootsie (1982) - The character Michael Dorsey (portrayed by Dustin Hoffman) star as Dorothy Michaels in the show-within-show soap opera Southwest General • Victor/Victoria (1982) - The character Victoria Grant (portrayed by Julie Andrews) pretends to be Count Victor Grezinski and finds work as a female impersonator. • Flickan vid stenbänken (1989) - The character Carolin (Anna Edlund) briefly portrays a man in a (show-within-show) play. • Shakespeare in Love (1998) - The character Viola de Lesseps (portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow) disguises herself as Thomas Kent and then plays the part of Juliet in the show-within-show Romeo and Juliet. • Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - The character Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) dresses as nanny Mrs. Doubtfire and is hired to host a children's show. • High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019–present) - The character Seb (Joe Serafini) plays the part of Sharpay Evans in the school production of High School Musical. Video game examples • New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) - A few Koopalings, including Larry, Lemmy and Morton were voiced by Lani Minella. • Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012) - Pit was portrayed by Minami Takayama, who majorly voiced as him for the Super Smash Bros. series. • Genshin Impact (2020) - Venti is voiced by Erika Harlacher. ==See also==