April De Angelis

Full Length, Comic drama

5 f.

Unit set.

The year is 1669 a bawdy and troublesome time. Theaters have just reopened after seventeen years of Puritan suppression. There is a surge in dramatic writing and the first English actresses appear on stage. Playhouse Creatures focuses on five of the most famous (Nell Gwyn, Elizabeth Farley, Rebecca Marshall, Doll Common and Mary Betterton) to provide a moving and often comic account of the precarious lives of Restoration actresses.

"With delicious 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." Independent on Sunday.

"Flesh and blood heroines ... move and inspire ... a few more female role models stamped firmly on your heart." Time Out.

"An immense talent and witty sensitive dialogue.... Thoroughly entertaining." Tribune.

FEE: $75 per performance.