Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare

‘Engrossing, enlightening and hugely entertaining’

SARAH WATERS, author of Fingersmith



‘Brilliant – so vivid and so sharp, fantastically clever and consistently fascinating’

KATHERINE RUNDELL, author of Super-Infinite



Was Shakespeare gay? The answer is both simpler and more complex than you might think . . .



Shakespeare’s work was profoundly influenced by the queer culture of his time – much of it totally integrated into mainstream society. From a relentless schooling in Latin and Greek homoeroticism, to a less formal education on the streets and in smoky taverns, from the gender-bending of the early comedies to the astonishingly queer literary scene that nurtured Shakespeare’s sonnets, this is a story of artistic development and of personal crisis.



Straight Acting is a surprising portrait of Shakespeare’s queer lives – his own and those in his plays and poems. It is a journey back in time and through Shakespeare’s England, revealing a culture that both endorsed and supressed same-sex desire. It is a call to stop making Shakespeare act straight and to recognise how queerness powerfully shaped the life and career of the world’s most famous playwright.



‘Magisterial and saucy . . . This fresh account kickstarts the queer canon of English literature: Shakespeare won’t go back in the closet again’

EMMA SMITH, author of This Is Shakespeare

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Imprint: SCEPTRE
Publication date: 11/06/2024