Travesti (theatre) - Women in Male Roles

Women in Male Roles

With the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 women started appearing on the English stage, both in the female roles that in Shakespeare's day had been portrayed by men and boys, and in male roles. It has been estimated that of the 375 plays produced in London between 1660 and 1700, nearly a quarter contained one or more roles for actresses dressed as men. Amongst the 19th century actresses who made a mark in travesti roles were Mary Anne Keeley who portrayed Smike in the stage adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby and the robber Jack Sheppard in Buckstone's play based on his life; Maude Adams who played Peter Pan in the American premiere of Barrie's play and went on to play the role over 1500 times; and Sarah Bernhardt who created the role of Napoleon II of France in Edmond Rostand's L'Aiglon as well as playing Lorenzino de' Medici in Musset's Lorenzaccio, Pelléas in Maeterlinck's Pelléas and Mélisande and perhaps most famously the title role in Hamlet. In the Victorian era, musical burlesques generally included several breeches roles. According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, although "an almost indispensable element of burlesque was the display of attractive women dressed in tights, often in travesty roles ... the plays themselves did not normally tend to indecency." One of the specialists in these roles was Nellie Farren who created the title roles in numerous burlesques and pantomimes, including Robert the Devil, Little Jack Sheppard and Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue. In British pantomime, which is still regularly performed, the young male protagonist or Principal boy is traditionally played by an actress in boy's clothes.

The practice of women performing en travesti in operas became increasingly common in the early 19th century as castrato singers went out of fashion and were replaced by mezzo-sopranos or contraltos in the young masculine roles. See for example, the title role of Rossini's 1813 Tancredi which was specifically written for a female singer. However, travesti mezzo-sopranos had been used earlier by both Handel and Mozart, sometimes because a castrato was not available, or to portray a boy or very young man, e.g. Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. In 20th-century opera, composers continued to ask women to sing the roles of young men, when they felt the mature tenor voice sounded wrong for the part. Notable examples are Richard Strauss's use of a mezzo-soprano for Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and the composer in Ariadne auf Naxos.

From 1830 to 1850, female ballet dancers were increasingly seen in the corps de ballet portraying matadors, hussars, and cavaliers, and even as the prima ballerina's 'leading man', a practice which was to last well into the 20th century in France. Although both Fanny Elssler and her sister Thérèse danced travesti roles at the Paris Opera, Thérèse, who was very tall by the standards of the day, danced them more frequently, often partnering Fanny as her leading man. The French ballerina Eugénie Fiocre, who created the role of Franz in Coppélia, was also particularly known for her travesti performances.