Podcast Summary:

New Books Network – Jacob Bloomfield, "Drag: A British History" (U California Press, 2023)
Date: November 29, 2025
Host: Isabel Machado
Guest: Dr. Jacob Bloomfield

Overview

This episode features historian Dr. Jacob Bloomfield discussing his book Drag: A British History. The conversation delves into the sustained popularity and shifting cultural meanings of male drag performance in Britain from the 1870s to 1970s. Dr. Bloomfield and host Isabel Machado examine the historical, social, and political contexts of drag, its evolving definitions, and present-day resonances amid cultural debates.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Book Origin Story

• Personal Inspiration: Bloomfield’s early fascination with gender variance in pop culture, notably his admiration for artists like Prince.
• Academic Spark: The decisive moment came during his master’s studies at Edinburgh when reading about the Bolton and Park case—two 19th-century drag performers acquitted of conspiracy to commit sodomy, which triggered wider questions about drag and gender non-conformity.
  • Quote:

    “Only over a decade later I’ve written this book. So took me a little while from my master’s year, but I persevered.” (05:25, Jacob Bloomfield)

2. The Book’s Opening Vignette: Lord Chamberlain’s Files

• "We Are No Ladies" (1958) Case Study: The book opens with a vignette of a state censor attending a drag show, revealing the complex attitudes towards drag—from seeing it as tradition, threat, glamor, or harmless fun.
• Historical Theater Censorship: The Lord Chamberlain’s Office licensed and monitored public performance, impacting how drag was performed, perceived, and regulated.
  • Quote:

    “Drag is a theatrical tradition in Britain. We can’t stamp it out from the stage. It’s as old as the stage.” (Paraphrased, Secretary Hill, recounted by Bloomfield, 07:50)

3. Defining ‘Drag’

• Bloomfield’s Working Definition:
  • Historically: "Men dressing as women, women dressing as men, for the purpose of performance."
  • Expanded View: Performance that comments on gender, even when gender isn’t the only theme.
  • Recognition of the adaptability and contestation of the term’s meaning.
  • Importance of concise scholarly definitions while welcoming critique.
  • Quote:

    “I still feel that the commentary on gender has been and still is a key part of drag performance.” (11:20, Jacob Bloomfield)

4. Etymology of the Word ‘Drag’

• First Popular Use: In an 1870 article linked to the Bolton and Park trial, ‘drag’ comes into published usage to mean cross-dressing.
• Myths Dispelled: Origin is the drag of a gown, not ‘dressed as a girl’ or earlier Elizabethan slang.
  • Quote:

    “Drag comes from…the drag of a gown on the ground. It’s not...a reference to dressed as a girl in the Elizabethan theater. Drag is a more modern term.” (13:45, Jacob Bloomfield)

5. Timeframe: 1870s–1970s

• Why These Years?:
  • 1870s: Introduction and popularization of the term ‘drag’, rise of theater as mass entertainment, new pathologizing theories about gender variance.
  • 1970s: Marked shift—drag became more overtly claimed by gay politics post-Stonewall, while the mass-audience tradition of drag began to decline or transform.
  • Quote:

    “From around 1970, you have purer forms of drag being more overtly claimed by gay culture and gay politics...That’s sort of a definitive break from the type of drag I’m talking about.” (19:25, Jacob Bloomfield)

6. Drag as a Culturally and Historically Specific Phenomenon

• Multiple Meanings: Drag has never been just one thing—it reflected and adapted to political, class, and sexual anxieties and aspirations.
• Old Mother Riley as a Case Study:
  • Arthur Lucan’s beloved working-class character, a drag ‘dame’, whose comic performances and larger media presence spoke to working-class concerns, not primarily sexuality.
  • Quote:

    “Mainly people associated Old Mother Riley with working class culture, working class concerns, family entertainment, things of that nature that didn’t have anything to do directly, at least with sexuality.” (26:26, Jacob Bloomfield)

7. Research Process & Sources

• Key Sources:
  • Newspaper reviews and arts criticism (standing in for unrecorded performances).
  • Lord Chamberlain’s files: Scripts, complaints, police and court reports.
  • Reader letters and official censorship correspondence.
  • Ethical Note: Acknowledgement that mechanisms of repression and censorship produce unique, rich archives yet represent only certain perspectives.
  • Quote:

    “A silver lining of the state regime of theater censorship is that you can go to the British Library and find entire play scripts… and you can also find what the Lord Chamberlain’s Office found controversial...” (29:37, Jacob Bloomfield)

8. Drag, the Mainstream, and the Present

• Myth-Busting: The claim that drag is "mainstream" only now is not historically accurate; drag has been central to UK popular culture (radio, TV, theater) for over a century.
• Drag and the Culture Wars:
  • The current backlash is new in its framing, but cultural anxieties about drag recur throughout modern history.
  • Drag has appealed (and still appeals) to diverse, even conservative, audiences.
  • The association of drag with queer culture is a historical process, not an eternal constant.
  • Quote:

    “There’s a long tradition of people who were socially conservative embracing drag…drag was at the heart of British popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries.” (36:30, Jacob Bloomfield)

9. The Future of Drag

• Drag has always been and will remain adaptable, creative, and inclusive, with boundaries continually expanding.
  • Quote:

    "Drag is ever changing and it’s getting more and more interesting and creative…drag artist is…based on a person’s self definition.” (39:40, Jacob Bloomfield)

10. Next Project: Little Richard’s Cultural Reception

• Not a standard biography: Focus will be on how different groups and communities have interpreted and responded to Little Richard’s life, music, and flamboysance from the 1950s onward.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Drag is a theatrical tradition in Britain. We can’t stamp it out from the stage. It’s as old as the stage.” (07:50, Secretary Hill via Bloomfield)
• “If you like drag, buy the book. If you hate drag, buy the book. If you’re ambivalent towards drag, buy the book.” (38:30, Jacob Bloomfield)
• “Drag’s been here for a long, long time and it ain’t going nowhere.” (38:51, Isabel Machado)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Book Origin Story: 03:14–05:32
• Opening Vignette / Lord Chamberlain’s Files: 06:04–09:42
• Defining ‘Drag’ & Etymology: 09:46–14:58
• Timeframe Explanation (1870–1970): 16:11–21:41
• Cultural Specificity & Contexts of Drag: 22:39–28:21
• Research Process & Sources: 28:48–32:49
• Drag’s Mainstream Status & Present-day Debates: 32:49–39:09
• Drag’s Future & Artistic Diversity: 39:09–40:22
• Next Project: Little Richard: 40:22–41:52

Conclusion

Bloomfield’s Drag: A British History challenges assumptions about drag’s marginality, instead framing it as a historically flexible, mainstream, and culturally central art form. The episode is a rich journey through British stage history, legal oversight, queer and working-class resistances, and the ever-evolving aesthetics and meanings of drag. The interview closes with an optimistic affirmation of drag’s diversity, longevity, and future.