Being Un-politically Queer

Lesbian Womanhood Through Straight Men and Queer Women

It is not until halfway through the 1926 play The Captive that audiences learn that the play’s main lady is a lesbian.

We are greeted with Irene, an attractive woman with a rich father, and suspect that the conflict of the play would be a common one: a rebellious daughter who fears that her father will reject the man that she loves. To hide the true identity of her lover, Irene claims that she is seeing her distant cousin Jacques. But, following scene after scene of…