It’s 1662. The Civil War is over. Charles II, the Merry Monarch, is on the throne. The misery mongers are out; the good times are back – and theatres are open for business.
Since women are still banned from the stage all female roles are played by men; the most celebrated actor in this field being Edward Kynaston (an impressive Chris Conway). But to allow his mistress Nell Gwynn (Jennifer White) to take to the boards the King (Matthew Huntbach) lifts the bar on females.
Based on fact, Compleat Female Stage Beauty is the story of Kynaston’s consequent fall from popularity – he’s reduced to waiting tables – and his eventual comeback as a successful actor in male roles.
Plays about the stage are invariably fascinating; this certainly is. In often lewd terms it also explores the complexities of sex and gender. The Duke of Buckingham (Christopher Collins) is no longer attracted to Kynaston after his fall because all along he’d been enjoying going to bed with Desdemona and Ophelia, not the man himself. And Samuel Pepys (Steve Mitchell) tells the actor he enjoys him playing women pretending to be men.
The play places technical demands on the cast. Those playing actors must show how the job spills over into real-life manners; and all have to demonstrate the affectation of the period. At the same time, properly differentiated, sympathetic persons need to emerge. And they do.
Hugh Jenkins is super as hard-nosed actor/manager Thomas Betterton; so, for instance, are Jonathan Cleaver, camping about as Sir Charles Sedley, and Tamzin Gray-Gaunt, as Lady Meresvale. But Charlie Osborne is wonderful as Margaret Hughes. The finest scenes in the play are when she and Conway are in rehearsal – ironically, she as Desdemona, he as Othello.
Directed by Colin Treliving, this is the Lace Market on top form.
Compleat Female Stage Beauty is at the Lace Market Theatre in Halifax Place until Saturday, April 27. For tickets call 0115 950 7201.
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