Other Kitchen Sinks, Other Drawing Rooms

Abstract

In this article, Sam See argues that contemporary gay/lesbian drama scholars have overlooked bisexual and polyamorous characters and ideas in many 20th-century British plays that were written and produced before the Lord Chamberlain restrictions on theatre were rescinded in Britain in 1968. See contends that these scholars have read Noel Coward's Design for Living, Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, and Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane with homosexist eyes, critical perspectives that regard bisexuality and polyamory only as closeted homosexuality. The author believes such readings issue from the divide between contemporary queer and gay/lesbian scholarship and argues that gay/lesbian scholars seem reluctant (if not explicitly opposed) to regard “queer” as a viable term with which to describe the undeniable variety of non-heterosexual relationships. See hopes to reveal how such “closeted homosexual” readings ironically marginalize the very non-heterosexual lives that contemporary gay/lesbian scholars claim they want to support.