Boy actors on the Shakespearean stage : subliminal or subversive

That boy actors took female roles in English Renaissance theatre is a widely recognised convention, but whether boy actors in female roles were merely “taken for granted” by Renaissance audiences or whether the convention drew attention to itself is an unanswered question. This paper, guided by a wide reading of the current critical debate, addresses this critical question of whether boy actors were a subliminal or subversive presence on the English Renaissance stage by analysing their reception by English Renaissance audiences, their feminism, and their erotic connotation