Reclaiming the Dame: Cross-dressing as Queen Victoria in British theatre and television comedy

Abstract

ABSTRACTQueen Victoria remains one of western culture's most instantly recognizable figures, and continues to appear in comic takes on history and historical adventure. This article aims to provide an overview of the lampooning of Queen Victoria, her public image and private proclivities, a phenomenon that is now in its third century. It focuses in particular on the strange recurrence of Queen Victoria being played by a man, which reached its peak onstage and in television in the 1970s — and in which Monty Python's Flying Circus (BBC, 1969–74) had a key role — but which, the article argues, has its roots in the social turmoil of the 1890s. The article proposes some ideas from gender theory, as well as from the history of stage farce and pantomime, to explain this comic trope. It concludes by investigating representations of Victoria in recent BBC sketch shows That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC, 2006–10) and Horrible Histories (Lion TV/Citrus Television, 2009 —), arguing that while a prominent strand of the former is its nostalgia for 1970s television, the latter reinterprets Monty Python for a post-millennial family audience, directing the grotesque comedy of the pantomime Dame onto the female body. Although it draws on discussions of gender, and on television and theatre, the article also studies the impact of the heritage film on notions of the past.