Breeches role

A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role) is a role in which an actress appears in male clothes (breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants, the standard male garment at the time breeches roles were introduced). It can also refer, in opera, to any male character in the opera that is sung and acted by a female singer — in the case of a woman playing the role of a young man, the part is often filled by a mezzo soprano.

Related Topics:
Actress - Clothes - Breeches - Opera - Mezzo soprano

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The operatic concept of the breeches role assumes that the character is male, and the audience accepts him as such, even knowing that the actor is not. By contrast, a female opera character who dresses in male clothing to deceive other characters — that is, who plays a woman pretending to be a man — is not considered a breeches role.

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Because non-musical stage plays generally have no requirements for vocal range, they do not usually contain breeches roles in the same sense as opera. Some plays do have male roles that were written for adult female actors, and (for other practical reasons) are usually played by women (e.g. Peter Pan); these could be considered modern-era breeches roles. However, in most cases, the choice of a female actor to play a male character is made at the production level; Hamlet is not a breeches role, but Sarah Bernhardt once played Hamlet as a breeches role. When a play is spoken of as "containing" a breeches role, this does mean a role where a female character pretends to be a man and uses male clothing as a disguise, the reverse of its usage in opera.

Related Topics:
Peter Pan - Hamlet - Sarah Bernhardt

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