"Queer Virgins and Virgin Queans looks at the early modern theatre through the lens of obscure and obscene puns - especially 'queer' puns, those that carry homoerotic resonances and speak to homoerotic desires. In particular, it resurrects the operations of a small boys' company known as the first Whitefriars, which performed for about nine months in 1607-8." "Queer Virgins and Virgin Queens engages with linguistic theory by arguing that puns create communities, if only for a few hours; with theatrical scholarship by arguing for a much stronger emphasis on the importance of the writing communities attached to theatres; and with queer theory by positing a self-aware homoerotic community in early modern London."--Jacket.