After 18 years of pious, puritanical rule, theatres could at last re-open their doors when Charles II came out of exile and assumed the throne. And what’s more, a royal decree: women, for the first time in Britain’s history would be allowed on stage.
Set in the round, with chandeliers that dramatically fall and rise, there is a crackling intimacy throughout the show
April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures transports us back to the ‘swinging’ 1660s and introduces us to five actresses coming to terms with this newly-found freedom. Yet their livelihoods still very much hang in the balance as they find themselves subject to sexual objectification, misogyny and society’s cold disregard.
The illustrious Anna Chancellor plays the part of Mrs Betterton to perfection: an old hand who has literally been waiting in the wings and furtively refining her craft in anticipation of this moment. Yet when it arrives, it is tainted. She finds the appetite of the audience less interested in her depictions of the sublime and rapt and instead with younger actresses upon whom they can cast their lascivious gaze. Indeed, wealthier patrons were known to pay extra to watch actresses get into costume. The sight of a woman’s leg on stage, completely novel at the time, was considered something erotically charged.
Zoe Brough shines in the role of the ‘pretty, witty’ Nell Gwyn who began selling oranges at Killigrew’s theatre and swiftly rose to stardom. She believes she is destined for great things and learns how to command the stage under the tutelage of Mrs Betterton. Vivacious and effervescent, Brough captures the spirit of a character etched into tales of theatrical folklore not only for her lead performances of the time but also for becoming a royal mistress to Charles II and bearing the king two sons.
De Angelis’ play sets out to question the perceived zeitgeist of the time. Mrs Marshall, exceptionally played by Katherine Kingsley, experiences a moment of utter degradation at the hands of a man for having the temerity to stand up for herself. For Mrs Farley, her fortunes change in a flash as she finds herself destitute and alone in a heart-wrenching scene poignantly captured by Nicole Sawyerr. Through the character of Doll Common (Doña Croll), loyal friend and confidant to Mrs Betterton, we see the hardy stoicism of an older woman who carries herself as strong in the face of adversity.
It’s hard to imagine a more fitting setting than the Orange Tree Theatre. Performed in the round, with chandeliers that dramatically fall and rise, there is a crackling intimacy throughout the show. Michael Oakley has done a marvellous job at using the space and establishing a distinction in atmosphere before and after the interval. The bawdy, playful mood of the first act is replaced by something more sombre in the second as we are invited to reflect on the fate of these women and ponder whether progress is all that it seems.
