Playhouse Creatures at Cygnet Theatre

Mary Youlden
Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted Thursday, December 18, 2014 - 11:27am

Women on the English Stage!  Outrageous?  Exciting? 

Greater respect for women?  Fabulous roles… glamour and untold riches?  Go and see!

The year is 1669 – a bawdy and troublesome time.  The theatres have just re-opened after seventeen years of suppression under the Puritans.  Charles II, now restored to the English throne, has by Royal Decree sanctioned the appearance of the first English actresses to grace the stage. 

April De Angelis has taken five famous figures – Nell Gwyn, Elizabeth Farley, Rebecca Marshall, Doll Common and Mary Betterton – and given us a fascinating look at the precarious lot of actresses at that time.  A moving and often comic account of the true lives of Restoration actresses, with some earthy language!

“With deliciously 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

The Cygnet Company is directed by guest director Amanda Knott – Artistic Director of Creative Cow – a locally-based theatre company, known nationally for stylish and successful productions of both classical and modern repertoire.

Playhouse Creatures runs at Cygnet Theatre, Exeter

Evening Performances 16t and 17 January and from 21-24 January at 7.30pm; matinees on 17 and 24 January at 2pm.

Tickets are priced at £10 (£8 concession, £6 child) available from Cygnet Theatre Box Office on 01392 277189, Exeter Visitor Information and Tickets on 01392 665885 or via www.wegottickets.com

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