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Murder Most Queer: The Homicidal Homosexual in the American Theater examines the shifting meanings of murderous LGBT characters in the American theater from the 1920s to today, showing how these controversial representations wrestle with and ultimately subvert the archetype of the “villainous homosexual.”
Reviews
"The author avoids simplified readings of the queer killers he describes, opting instead for nuanced, generous readings of potentially homophobic portrayals that offer much more for students of gay and lesbian theatre... Murder Most Queer will be especially helpful in courses about gay and lesbian theatre and performance." -- Aaron C. Thomas, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism "An original, well-researched, and immensely readable book [that] not only recovers a history of homicidal characters, but also illuminates the social and psychic importance such characters have had in shaping and reshaping the meanings of gay and lesbian experience for much of the 20th century." -- James Polchin, Gay and Lesbian Review |
Available from University of Michigan Press
and other booksellers 
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Plays discussed in the book include:
The Drag by Mae West Rope by Patrick Hamilton Compulsion by Meyer Levin Never the Sinner by John Logan Thrill Me by Stephen Dolginoff Deathtrap by Ira Levin Bluebeard by Charles Ludlam Vampire Lesbians of Sodom by Charles Busch |
The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O'Brien The Well of Horniness by Holly Hughes Lesbians Who Kill by Split Britches The Secretaries by the Five Lesbian Brothers Strangers in Paradox by Kate Bornstein The Lisbon Traviata by Terrence McNally Porcelain by Chay Yew Pterodactyls by Nicky Silver |
The Gospel According to Miss Roj by George C. Wolfe The Dying Gaul by Craig Lucas The Law of Remains by Reza Abdoh Fascination by Jim Grimsley Self Defense by Carson Kreitzer Jerk by Dennis Cooper / Gisèle Vienne Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates / Bill Connington Betty's Summer Vacation by Christopher Durang |
