Playhouse Creatures 1993
-
About This Production
-
Title
Playhouse Creatures 1993
-
Date first production
Tuesday, 05 October 1993
-
Venue first production
Haymarket Theatre, Leicester
-
Nell Gwyn, the infamous 'orange moll' who became mistress to Charles 11, was one of the first women to appear on the English stage, heralding the end of a theatrical era when 'men were men and women were invariably boys'. Desirable and glamorous, the new actresses acquired a celebrated notoriety as they publicly displayed their charms - for how else could a girl from the gutter catch the eye of the King of England!
But an actress's life in Restoration London was a continuous struggle against the threats of poverty, prison and pestilence, and for most of these Playhouse Creatures the rags-to-riches dream enjoyed by Nell could never come true.
April De Angelis's rumbustious new comedy takes a darkly MP humorous look behind the scenes of seventeenth century theatre life and finds a world where a woman must play as many parts offstage as on, if she is to survive at all. Sparkling wit, gripping drama and the occasional swashbuckling surprise combine to make Playhouse Creatures an unmissable new production from one of our leading young playwrights.
Cast
Name
-
Jean Marlow
Fleur Bennett
Nicola Grier
Frances Cuka
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Role
-
Doll Common
Nell Gwyn
Elizabeth Farley
Mary Betterton
Rebecca Marshall
Creative Team
Name
-
April de Angelis
Sue Parrish
Annabel lee
Claire van Kampen
Di Stedman
Linda Dobell
Position
-
Writer
Director
Designer
Composer
Lighting Designer
Movement Director
Tour Venue
Tour City
-
Tour Date
-
Reviews
"What appears at first to be a flowery little greenroom romp, bristling with anecdotes and theatrical in jokes, turns into a touching reflection on what continues to be a woman's lot The thicket of illustration could do with some pruning, but the rootstock is strong.
De Angelis has picked her characters from theatre history, but has placed them carefully to reflect outrageous fortune in all its caprices.
The older generation is wonderfully represented by Jean Marlow as the lowly Doll Common, and by Frances Cuka as a Mary Betterton whose dumpy figure is transmogrified by Cleopatra's sublime death oratory into something all the more impressive for its apparent incompatibility. Her voice is like fine, creased parch¬ment gilded with technique. She is simultaneously magnificent and ludicrous".
The Guardian
" With deliciously absurd extracts from the heroic repertory and frantic dressing-room scenes, the prevailing tone is comic; but you are not allowed to forget the gutter waiting to reclaim these glittering figures, nor their dependence on male patrons who may set them up in style, or have them daubed with excrement if they fail to please."
The Independent
"Angelis' script is at its best when exploring Restoration girls'-talk and she expertly tweaks a subtle feminist call for determination from every little event."
Time Out
De Angelis has picked her characters from theatre history, but has placed them carefully to reflect outrageous fortune in all its caprices.
The older generation is wonderfully represented by Jean Marlow as the lowly Doll Common, and by Frances Cuka as a Mary Betterton whose dumpy figure is transmogrified by Cleopatra's sublime death oratory into something all the more impressive for its apparent incompatibility. Her voice is like fine, creased parch¬ment gilded with technique. She is simultaneously magnificent and ludicrous".
The Guardian
" With deliciously absurd extracts from the heroic repertory and frantic dressing-room scenes, the prevailing tone is comic; but you are not allowed to forget the gutter waiting to reclaim these glittering figures, nor their dependence on male patrons who may set them up in style, or have them daubed with excrement if they fail to please."
The Independent
"Angelis' script is at its best when exploring Restoration girls'-talk and she expertly tweaks a subtle feminist call for determination from every little event."
Time Out
