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Stage Beauty
- Director: Richard Eyre
- Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher
- Producer: Rachel Cohen; Robert De Niro
CGiii Comment
Leniency with historical accuracy coupled with an unbridled imagination and this is the result - an utter delight.
The production design alone will make you gasp, and the lighting is a feast.
This could actually be viewed as a history of drag - by royal proclamation male/female actors became unemployed - stripping them of their income and, devastatingly, their identity - with disastrous results.
Eyre keeps the momentum going with a snappy, hilarious script - but, it is the eye for detail in every single scene that sets this comedy/drama worlds apart.
Simply - stunning and hugely enjoyable.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Based in the 1660's of London's theaters, this film is about the rules of gender roles in theatre production, and means to change them for everyone's benefit. Ned Kynaston is the assumedly gay cross-dressing actor who has been playing female parts in plays for years, particularly Desdemona in Othello, he also has a close relationship with a member of the Royal Court, the Duke of Buckingham. One day however, the rules of only men playing women could change when aspiring actress Maria auditions as Kynaston's praised role, Desdemona, and soon enough, King Charles II decides to make the law that all female roles should be played only by women. Maria becomes a star, while Ned finds himself out of work. But after a while, Ned finds it in his nature to forgive Maria's aspiration, they may even fall in love, and Charles may proclaim women will be played by either gender.
Cast & Characters
Derek Hutchinson as Stage Manager;
Mark Letheren as Male Emilia / Dickie;
Claire Danes as Maria;
Billy Crudup as Ned Kynaston;
Tom Wilkinson as Betterton;
Ben Chaplin as George Villiars,
Duke of Buckingham;
Hugh Bonneville as Samuel Pepys;
Jack Kempton as Call Boy;
Alice Eve as Miss Frayne;
Fenella Woolgar as Lady Meresvale;
David Westhead as Harry;
Nick Barber as Nick;
Stephen Marcus as Thomas Cockerell;
Richard Griffiths as Sir Charles Sedley;
Zoe Tapper as Nell Gwynn