The Captive

E465727

The Captive is a controversial 1926 Broadway play, adapted from Édouard Bourdet’s French drama, that became historically significant for its early depiction of lesbian themes and the resulting censorship battles.

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All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
The Captive canonical 3

Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Broadway play
LGBT-related play
adaptation
theatrical play
associatedWith American theatre censorship
LGBT theatre history
obscenity law in the United States
author Édouard Bourdet NERFINISHED
basedOn La Prisonnière NERFINISHED
a French play by Édouard Bourdet
censorshipReason depiction of lesbianism
censorshipType police closure of the production
countryOfOrigin France
culturalContext post-World War I Western society
dramaticForm three-act play
firstPerformanceDate 1926
genre drama
melodrama
historicalPeriod 1920s
influenced later LGBT-themed plays
languageOfPerformance English
legacy case study in early 20th-century stage censorship
milestone in representation of lesbians in mainstream theatre
mainTheme lesbian desire
same-sex love
sexual repression
social stigma
medium stage
narrativeFocus conflict between social convention and personal desire
notableFor early depiction of lesbian themes on the Broadway stage
involvement in censorship controversies
legal battles over theatrical indecency
originalLanguageOfWork French
placeOfFirstPerformance Broadway NERFINISHED
New York City NERFINISHED
portrays a lesbian relationship without explicit physical contact
reception commercially successful before being shut down
controversial
setting upper-class European society
subjectMatter a married woman emotionally attached to another woman
timePeriodOfCensorship late 1920s
triggered censorship actions by New York authorities
police raids on Broadway theatres
public debates about morality in the theatre

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Helen Menken notableWork The Captive
Paul Sarossy workedOn The Captive
Kevin Durand notableWork The Captive