First shown as the centrepiece of my solo exhibition at Focal Point Gallery, Principal Boy is a single channel film which follows the audition, rehearsal and performance of the eponymous central character in British pantomime. The character, conventionally a young male, is traditionally played by a woman in drag - although this practise has mysteriously declined in recent years. This comedic take on the casting process adapts the glamour of Hollywood cinema classics via the kitsch aesthetic of British showbiz. Principal Boy plays with traditional pantomime conventions to explore the presence and absence of trans and gender-nonconforming people in mainstream cultural production and examines pantomime as a form of post-industrial gender variant folk culture.

Produced by Grey Moth

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