Édouard Bourdet’s The Captive: a Centennial Reading and Discussion

“It’s like—a prison to which I must return captive, despite myself.” Édouard Bourdet’s 1926 play La Prisonnière [The Captive] tells the story of Irène de Montcel, a Parisian woman secretly consumed by her love for the mysterious Madame d’Aiguines while engaged to her friend Jacques. When it premiered in English at the Empire Theatre in September of 1926, The Captive’s depiction of lesbian romance proved both a scandal and a wild success. After a profitable run of 160 shows, however– and despite the fact that Irène’s lesbian lover never appears on stage– the show was raided and shut down by police for “obscenity.” A century later, the play remains a fascinating prism through which to examine the history of queer representation on stage, the double-edged sword of visibility for lesbians, and the political mechanisms that have enforced lesbian invisibility and queer erasure in American culture.

Join us Thursday, September 17 at BISR Central to commemorate the centennial of Bourdet’s The Captive. BISR faculty and second faculty members Hannah Leffingwell, Rebecca Ariel Porte, Sonia Werner, and Courtney Podraza will read select scenes from the play before turning to discussion about Bourdet’s tragic and sensitive depiction of queer desire, the text’s reception history in Europe and the United States, and the long afterlife of the anti-vice campaigns of the early 20th century. Together, the group will ask: How have American social norms around gender and sexuality been shaped by shifting definitions of the “obscene”? What possibilities existed in the 1920s for queer representation, queer life, and queer art in America, and why were these possibilities foreclosed by the rising tides of fascism? How has the expectation of tragic endings for queer characters in American mass culture been historically enforced?

The event is free to attend with a suggested $8 donation. Beer, wine, seltzer, and snacks will be served. Please RSVP below.

Event Schedule

Thursday, 7:00-8:30PM
September 17, 2026

$0.00

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