Restoration theatres were in for a treat when ladies first appeared on the stage after years of making do with mere boys but what was it like for the fairer sex up there underneath the spotlight?
Wheathampstead Dramatic Society attempts to answer that question by staging Playhouse Creatures, April de Angelis' play about the lives of actresses in 17th Century London.
Performing in a space that was formerly a bear pit, five actresses laugh and squabble, pursue love affairs and support one another as they are forced to face up to the realities of ageing, pregnancy and social and economic inequality.
For its final production of the 2007/08 season, Wheathampstead Dramatic Society pays tribute to the very first generation of actresses who were permitted to appear on the stage.
It is 1669 and Charles II has dispensed with the ban on female performers which even Shakespeare had had to contend with. No more was it necessary to turn to treble voiced boys to play Cleopatra or Lady Macbeth. In Playhouse Creatures, April De Angelis takes us close to the experience of the women who took advantage of the new opportunities available. Their lives are best seen as a constant game of snakes and ladders. Having generally escaped from a hard, unpromising life to one of glamour and applause, there was now a chance of catching the attention of a high born admirer, perhaps to find the way up the back stairs of the palace to the favour of the king himself.
Nell Gwyn, whose own liaison with Charles resulted in a Duke of St Albans, is one of the five women who make up the cast of the play. For her there were the onward ladders which took her to lasting renown. For others in the company snakes lurked which threw them back into poverty and disgrace on the streets of London. The interaction of the five in their "tiring room" behind scenes provides constant humour as well awareness of their fragile situation. The fine language they are given to speak on stage contrasts with the free and earthy way in which they often express themselves in private.
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Performances are Thursday, May 15 to Saturday, May 17 at the Memorial Hall, Marford Road, Wheathampstead at 8pm. Tickets: 01582 763510 (£7)
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