Play Reading in English – Playhouse Creatures by April De Angelis

It is well documented that the female roles on the Renaissance stage in Britain were played by men. Even today we still find elements of cross-dressing in various forms of theatre: in pantomime, in drag and even through some of the dedicated ‘men only’ companies like Edward Hall’s group, Propeller, who performed two Shakespeare productions for the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2007, as well as women-only groups, such as the Globe touring production of The Taming of the Shrew in Hong Kong September 2013.

April De Angelis’s hit play from the 1990s, Playhouse Creatures, is a historical piece about the emergence of actresses on the English stage after the Puritan closure of the theatres following the Parliamentarian victory in the English Civil War and the Protectorate. It examines the lives of five of the Restoration’s most famous and infamous performers, including the King’s former orange-seller mistress, Nell Gwynn.

By proclamation, a restored King Charles II orders that Shakespeare’s boy players be replaced by female actresses. The "playhouse creatures" were initially received as combination novelty act and a salacious side-show. Celebrated as either chaste paragons or notorious whores, these first English actresses constantly walked the tightrope between admiration and derision. De Angelis eloquently captures this dichotomy and successfully reads between the lines of both the historical and contemporary public press to reveal the private, often pioneering struggles of these ordinary, extraordinary women.

Play reading will be conducted in English.

Photo Credit:

http://www.deependtheatre.org.uk/0711%20Playhouse%20Creatures%20Promo1.html