Julian Eltinge in drag. Process print, ca. 1916.

Six faces expressing the passions: (clockwise from top left) joy, fear, pity, scorn, anger, and grief. Engraving by Silvester, 1807.

Actors in the pantomime "Sindbad" at Drury Lane. 

Three actors in drag, posing in theatrical costumes.

Actors in Pélissier's Follies performing in "Inconstant George".

George Robey in drag as the Queen of Hearts.

Madame Lloyd's choir and orchestra. 

Bert Errol in drag, wearing a light dress. Photographic postcard, 191-.

Ernest Rees in character as an old lady. 

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Actors in an amateur theatrical performance in Brighton; Remlaf is a palindrome of Falmer, a place near Brighton.

The James Gardiner Collection. Photographs.

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled Drag. 

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled ‘Drag’.

Actors in pantomime in Brighton: S. West playing King Robert of Remlaf and H. Taylor in drag as Queen Aggie of Remlaf. Photographic postcard.

The man is dressed as an old woman and is holding a lighter for two men who lean in with cigarettes in their mouths. An unidentified music-hall trio, possibly three brothers named George, Joey and Joel Preston.

Three actors, one in drag, pose lighting cigarettes.

Photograph of Gus Garrick wearing a checked dress, standing and looking at the viewer holding some knitting.
Gus Garrick was an actor who appeared at the Cambridge Theatre of Varieties in 1898, in Leeds in 1900, and in Sunderland in November 1914; he is also one of the people portrayed in Walter Lambert's painting 'Popularity' at the Museum of London (190-).

Gus Garrick in drag as a pantomime dame. 

Photograph of a man dressed as an old lady with a Union Jack skirt, next to a man in a white suit and a man in a top hat posed behind them. This was possibly taken during a play at a World War I concert party.

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled ‘Drag’

Three actors, one in female dress, posing in a tableau. 

Ernest Rees in character, possibly as a pantomime dame or as 'Charley's aunt', in the popular farce of the same name. He is wearing a feathery scarf and spectacles, and is pulling a disapproving expression.

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Actors

Images

Works

Actors in pantomime in Brighton: S. West playing King Robert of Remlaf and H. Taylor in drag as Queen Aggie of Remlaf. Photographic postcard.

Three actors, one in drag, pose lighting cigarettes.

Gus Garrick in drag as a pantomime dame.

Three actors, one in female dress, posing in a tableau.

Ernest Rees in character as an old lady.

Today’s opening times

Wellcome uses cookies.

Actors

Images

Works

Actors in pantomime in Brighton: S. West playing King Robert of Remlaf and H. Taylor in drag as Queen Aggie of Remlaf. Photographic postcard.

Three actors, one in drag, pose lighting cigarettes.

Gus Garrick in drag as a pantomime dame.

Three actors, one in female dress, posing in a tableau.

Ernest Rees in character as an old lady.

Wellcome Collection

Today’s opening times