DONATE

You are here:Special Collections»HIDVL Artist Profiles»Split Britches»Split Britches: Works»Beauty and the Beast (1983, 1986)
Beauty and the Beast (1983, 1986) Photo/Foto: Split Britches
  • Title: Beauty and the Beast
  • Holdings: video (HIDVL)
  • Duration: varies
  • Language: English
  • Date: 1983, 1986
  • Location: University of the Streets Café, New York City (1983); WOW Café, New York City (1986).
  • Type-Format: performance, cabaret
  • Cast: Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, Deb Margolin.
  • Credits: Split Britches, producer; Lois Weaver, director, writer; Peggy Shaw, Deb Margolin, writers.

Beauty and the Beast (1983, 1986)

These videos document two versions of Split Britches' show "Beauty and the Beast." Based on the classic fairy tale, influenced by the long rule of republican politics and informed by the Christian agenda that dominates the US scene up till the present, it is the personal journey of a Salvation Army woman who plays the good and beautiful daughter who secretly wants to be bad, a Rabbi in pink toe shoes who is relegated to the role of the father and longs to be a stand-up comic, and an 86-year-old lesbian vaudeville freak who embraces the role of the Beast and comments on politics by forgetting which play she is in.


Video