Sixty “Villagers” Onstage: Criminal Intimacy, Queer Community, and Queen Self-Authorship in Mae West’s The Drag

Mae West’s 1927 play The Drag has often been cited by theatre historians for its role in prompting passage of the Wales Padlock Act. However, the drag elements of the play have been mostly ignored by this same scholarship. This brief article reexamines the legacy of Mae West’s play The Drag, recontextualizing the play through the drag queen self-authorship and queer communal worldmaking found within the text. By exploring the criminal intimacies and legal precarity that shape the camp aesthetics throughout the play, the essay argues The Drag provides a critical window into early 20th century drag performance practices and is a foundational text of queer theatre history.