It is the 1660s, and theatre re-emerges in London. But where are the playhouses? Since being closed down by Parliament in 1642, they have been pulled down or repurposed. And where are the actors?
The monarchy has been restored, and Charles II has brought with him ideas he picked up in France, and under his patronage, actresses have been introduced in the re-established British theatre. April De Angelis’s play gives us brief glimpses into the lives of five of them.
First, there is Doll Common (real name Katherine Corey but audiences named her after a prostitute character in Jonson’s The Alchemist), looking back from some future life on the theatre she played in, converted from a tennis court where, before the actors moved in, her father had run a bear pit. Doña Croll plays her as though she has seen it all: actresses treated like performing animals and she bemoaning the way that, when no longer young and sexy, she found herself too frequently just the dead body hidden under a cloak.
The narrative proper begins with Nell Gwyn encountering Elizabeth Farley, who has no means of support but is preaching on the street against theatre, as her recently deceased father had. Nell has heard there are jobs in the theatre, they are holding auditions, she sees a chance to move on from oyster selling and tips Elizabeth off. It is Elizabeth who gets in there first, though later, Nell somehow dodges auditioning yet finds her way onstage.
Nicole Sawyerr makes Elizabeth a quick-witted opportunist. Zoe Brough’s Nell is more naïve. Her nerves make her miss a cue, frozen on her first entry, but breaking into a dance she gains audience approval and gets royal attention. Already established in the company is Katherine Kingsley’s Rebecca Marshall, with her own aristocratic admirer. Both she and Elizabeth Farley soon learn just how fickle such support can be.
Queen among these performers in Thomas Betterton’s company is his wife, Mary. She claims to have played leading male roles opposite her husband at the time when actors were in short supply: Iago to his Othello, Prince Hal to his Falstaff. It is clear that she misses those roles, but in the excerpts from the company’s repertoire that De Angelis offers us, Anna Chancellor as Mrs Betterton gets to play Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth. These snippets, with their bare-breasted Amazon archers, sacrificed maidens and Shakespeare’s witches, may be there largely for laughs, but her sleep-walking scene is genuinely moving, and it is easy to see why she was in charge of training new recruits to the company.
Playhouse Creatures packs in a lot: acting styles, personal histories, misogynistic behaviour, an unsuccessful abortion (to avoid appearing on stage pregnant, which was considered distasteful) and a battle for equal opportunities (Mrs Betterton and Nell Gwyn get themselves made shareholders). We are told too little about too much, but all done very engagingly under Michael Oakley’s direction. Fotini Dimou provides a very simple setting and some gorgeous costumes, its atmosphere aided by Elliot Griggs’s lighting and Max Pappenheim’s sound design. It makes you want to dig deeper into these lives.
After its run at the Orange Tree, Playhouse Creatures can be seen at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (22–36 April) and Theatre Royal, Bath (28 April–3 May).