Breeches role facts for kids

A breeches role (also called a pants role or trouser role) is when an actress plays a male character. This usually means she wears male clothing, like the tight, knee-length pants called breeches that were common for men long ago.

In opera, a breeches role is a male character sung and acted by a female singer. These characters are often young men or teenagers. They are usually sung by singers with lower female voices, like a mezzo-soprano or contralto. The audience knows a woman is playing the part, but they accept her as the male character. Famous breeches roles in opera include Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and Hansel in Hansel und Gretel.

For plays that don't have singing, breeches roles are a bit different. Sometimes, a male role is written specifically for an adult female actor, like Peter Pan. Other times, a female actor might be chosen to play a male character for a specific production, like when Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet. A true breeches role in a play often means a female character who pretends to be a man and wears male clothes as a disguise.

History of Breeches Roles

When theatres in London reopened in 1660, something new happened: the first professional actresses appeared on stage. Before this, boys used to play all the female parts in plays by writers like William Shakespeare. Seeing real women act was a big deal!

Soon, it became even more exciting to see women wearing male clothes on stage. This was a huge novelty for audiences. Between 1660 and 1700, almost a quarter of all plays in London had at least one role for an actress in male clothing. Many famous actresses of that time appeared in breeches roles. Sometimes, these roles were even added to older plays just to make them more popular.

One famous actress, Susanna Verbruggen, was known for her breeches roles. People would come to see her perform, even if the play itself wasn't very good!

Breeches roles stayed popular on the British stage for many years. However, their special appeal slowly faded as the differences between men's and women's everyday clothing became less extreme. Still, they remained a tradition in certain types of theatre, like Victorian burlesque and for the principal boy in pantomime.

Breeches Roles in Opera

The idea of which roles are considered breeches roles in opera changes over time. It depends on what audiences like and what singers are available.

Today, it's becoming more common to hear countertenors. These are men who sing in a very high voice, similar to a female mezzo-soprano or contralto. This gives casting directors more choices.

For example, the character Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus can be sung by either a woman or a countertenor. If a mezzo-soprano sings the role, the prince looks like a woman but sounds like a young boy. If a countertenor sings it, he looks like a man but sings in a high voice. This can create interesting effects, especially when the character also has spoken lines.

The word travesty (from an Italian word meaning "disguised") can describe any role where a character is played by a singer of the opposite sex.

A related idea is a skirt role. This is a female character played by a male singer, often for comedy. These roles are less common than breeches roles. Historically, in some places like the Papal States, women were not allowed to sing on stage until the late 1700s. So, many female opera roles in those areas were originally written for men with high voices. Later examples include the Madwoman in Britten's Curlew River. In Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, the witch is often sung by a tenor (a male singer) even though it was written for a mezzo-soprano. However, the roles of Hänsel, the Sand-Man, and the Dew-Man in the same opera are meant to be sung by women.

Operas with Breeches Roles

Here are some operas that feature breeches roles:

• Adès's The Tempest: "Ariel"
• Arne's Artaxerxes: "Arbaces"
• Bellini's Bianca e Fernando: "Viscardo"
• Bellini's Zaira: "Nerestano"
• Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi: "Romeo"
• Berg's Lulu: "Der Gymnasiast" (a Schoolboy)
• Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini: "Ascanio"
• Berlioz's Les Troyens: "Ascanio"
• Catalani's La Wally: "Walter"
• Chabrier's L'étoile: "Lazuli" the peddler
• Chabrier's Une éducation manquée: "Gontran de Boismassif"
• Charpentier's David et Jonathas: "Jonathas"
• Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles: "Cherubino"
• Donizetti's Alahor in Granata: "Muley-Hassem"
• Donizetti's Anna Bolena: "Smeton"
• Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia: "Maffio Orsini"
• Dvořák's Rusalka: "The Kitchen Boy"
• Glinka's A Life for the Tsar: "Vanya"
• Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila: "Ratmir"
• Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice: "Orfeo"
• Gluck's Paride ed Elena: "Paride"
• Gounod's Faust: "Siebel"
• Gounod's Romeo and Juliet: "Stefano"
• Hahn's Mozart: The title role
• Händel's Alcina: "Ruggiero"
• Händel's Ariodante: "Ariodante"
• Händel's Giulio Cesare: "Julius Caesar" and "Sesto"
• Händel's Rinaldo: the title role "Rinaldo"
• Händel's Xerxes: the title role "Xerxes"
• Haydn's La canterina: "Don Ettore"
• Haydn's Lo speziale: "Volpino"
• Lecocq's Le petit duc: the title role
• Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel: "Hänsel", The Sand-Man, and The Dew-Man
• Janáček's From the House of the Dead: Aljeja
• Massenet's Cendrillon: "Le Prince Charmant"
• Massenet's Chérubin: The title role
• Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots : "Urbain" the page
• Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea: "Nero"
• Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro: "Cherubino"
• Mozart's La clemenza di Tito : "Annio"
• Mozart's Idomeneo: "Idamante"
• Mozart's Il re pastore: "Aminta"
• Mozart's Lucio Silla: "Cecilio" and "Lucio Cinna"
• Mozart's Ascanio in Alba: "Ascanio" and "Fauno"
• Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto: "Farnace", "Sifare", and "Arbate"
• Mozart's La finta giardiniera: "Ramiro"
• Offenbach's Mesdames de la Halle: Croûte-au-pot (the kitchen boy)
• Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant: "Drogan" the young baker
• Offenbach's Daphnis et Chloé: "Daphnis"
• Offenbach's Le pont des soupirs: The page "Amoroso"
• Offenbach's Les bavards: The young poet "Roland"
• Offenbach's La belle Hélène: "Oreste"
• Offenbach's Robinson Crusoé: "Friday"
• Offenbach's Les brigands: The farmer "Fragoletto"
• Offenbach's La jolie parfumeuse: The young clerk "Bavolet"
• Offenbach's Madame l'archiduc: "Fortunato, captain of the archduke's dragoons"
• Offenbach's Le voyage dans la lune: "Prince Caprice"
• Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann: "Nicklausse"
• Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers: "Cupidon" (Cupid)
• Pfitzner's Palestrina: Ighino and Silla
• Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges: The Boy and The Shepherd
• Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden: Lel
• Rossini's Tancredi: "Tancredi" and "Roggiero"
• Rossini's Bianca e Falliero: "Falliero"
• Rossini's La donna del lago: "Malcolm"
• Rossini's Le comte Ory : "Isolier"
• Rossini's Semiramide: "Arsace"
• Rossini's Otello: the title role
• Rossini's Guillaume Tell: Tell's son Jemmy
• Gil Shohat's The Child Dreams: "The Child" and "The Crippled Youth"
• Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de loin: "The Pilgrim"
• Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus: "Prince Orlofsky"
• Richard Strauss's Salome: "The Page of Herodias"
• Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos: "The Composer"
• Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier: "Octavian"
• Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades: Milovzor
• Verdi's Un ballo in maschera: "Oscar", Gustavus III's page
• Verdi's Don Carlos: The page Thibault (Tebaldo)
• Wagner's Rienzi: "Adriano"
• Wagner's Tannhäuser: The Young Shepherd
• Wagner's Parsifal: Two novices
• Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Several apprentices
• Weber's Oberon: "Puck"

Images for kids

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  An Actress at Her Toilet, or Miss Brazen Just Breecht by John Collet, 1779. This painting shows an actress in a breeches role.

See also

• Breeching (boys)
• Principal boy
• Travesti (theatre)
• Takarazuka Revue