Words by Melissa Blease
At Theatre Royal Bath until 3 May
Some 350+ years ago, English life under Puritan rule was No Fun At All. Piety, blind faith and sanctimonious blah-blah, witch hunts and book-burning, a blanket ban on alcohol, dancing and all forms of celebration, a total disregard for any form of women’s rights (or pretty much, in fact, women in general)… and a total condemnation of theatre, which was deemed to be associated with depravity and sin.
Blimey! We must have been beyond ready for the incoming King Charles II to return to our shores in 1660 fresh from his lengthy sojourn with France’s Sun King (aka Charlie’s cousin king Louis XIV – oh, it’s a very long story!), full of the joys of wine, women and song, and poised to pink-slip the po-faced Puritans.
To say that a lot of good and bad stuff happened under the reign of the second King Charlie during England’s original swinging 60s would be an understatement. But for our purposes right here, right now, we’re focusing on how a king who came to be known as Merry Monarch reopened theatres – and allowed women to perform in public for the very first time.
April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures – beautifully revived by director Michael Oakley – offers an intimate insight into the lives of five women at the forefront of the MM’s ‘new theatre revolution’ including the impactful, iconic theatre-world luminary Mary Saunderson Betterton and orange seller-turned-celebrity/long-term Merry Monarch mistress Nell Gwyn. The women’s stories are told from their personal perspective, exploring the extremes they went to for the sake of their liberation, their art, fair pay… and fair play.
‘Society’ couldn’t come to a firm conclusion on which category these women should be shoehorned into. Were they brave feminist pioneers or opportunistic harlots? Artists or whores? Goddesses or succubi? “Actresses? Pah! They’re all paint on the outside, and all pox within”, noted one ‘acclaimed’ society satirist at the time. Ah, little man – you were so wrong, wrong, wrong.
Zoe Brough is captivating from the get-go as the young, spirited, ambitious yet compassionate Nell Gwyn: the epitome of a Material Girl way before Madonna, with twice the charisma.
Forced to battle a much more challenging route to emancipation, Katherine Kingsley’s steely-against-all-odds Mrs Marshall – the victim of a treacherous, deceitful Earl – refuses to give in to the vile abuse of an arch toxic masculinite with a heady combination of grace, uber-pragmatism and exemplary fortitude-under-pressure. If Mrs Marshall moves us to righteous anger, Nicole Sawyerr’s sensitive portrayal of former Puritanical preacher-turned-actress Mrs Farley moves us to tears with a tragic tale that highlights exactly how precarious the brutal bridge between gender-based chattels and liberation really was, for all women… with no redemption nor salvation along the way.
Holding the troupe and their lives together in all manner of ways, the fabulously feisty, teasingly truculent Doll Common, a character inspired by real-life restoration actress Katherine Corey’s portrayal of a shrewd hooker in Ben Jonson’s 1610 comedy The Alchemist, here revitalised for a whole new generation with lashings of style, sagacity and perception by Dońa Croll.
Meanwhile, as the prolific grand dame of reformation theatre Mrs Betterton, Anna Chancellor’s performance can only be described as outstanding. Take a dash of Maggie Smith, a pinch of Katharine Hepburn and a splash of Olivia de Havilland and you still wouldn’t get close to the Chancellor charm in this role, her sharp wit, insightful wisdom, instinctive comedy timing and super-camp histrionics worn as a cloak of armour defending a big heart that will inevitably be broken – absolutely stunning.
One part historical timepiece, one part raucous restoration comedy, one part panegyric to the early feminists and all parts a paean to the rich history of English theatre, Playhouse Creatures provokes thought, evokes deep emotions and makes you laugh out loud: girl power on multiple levels.