Compleat Female Stage Beauty

Written by Jeffrey Hatcher, Directed by Megan Dansie

16th - 31st March 2012

...he made the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my life....
Samuel Pepys’ Diary 18 August, 1660

Restoration actor, Edward Kynaston is the toast of London, excelling in all female roles, which women, themselves, are banned from playing. But when the fun-loving King Charles II changes the law, allowing women to act, and banning men from playing them on stage, Kynaston’s world is turned upside down. He loses his livelihood, his lover and his sense of self. While his former dresser and the king’s mistress, Nell Gwynn, become stars, he’s reduced to drag roles in music halls…until fate and his desire for revenge give him the chance to take to the stage again.

Contemporary American playwright, Jeffrey Hatcher, was fascinated by Kynaston’s story in Pepys’ diary, and his bold, bawdy, poignant comedy is the result. Now, for the first time in Australia, The Stirling Players, directed by Megan Dansie, will bring you the intrigue, the manners, the bitchiness of 17th Century society, its court and its theatre. It's a play to delight and shock!

Read ore about Edward Kynaston here...

Cast

Edward Kynaston - Aldo Longobardi
Thomas Betterton - Lindsay Dunn
Samuel Pepys - Peter Bleby
Maria - Karen Burns
Lady Meresvale - Maisie Fabry
Miss Frayne - Ruth Horry
Sir Charles Sedley - Barry Hill
Margaret Hughes - Alison Scharber
Charles II - Joshua Coldwell
Nell Gwynn -  Kate Van der Horst
Hyde - Neville Phillis
Mistress Revels - Debbie Tester
Sir Peter Lelly/Ruffian/Ensemble - Steve Marvanek 
Male Emelia/Ruffian/Ensemble - Anthony Vawser 
Ruffian - Saul Vanaxton

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director - Megan Dansie
Production Coordinator - Jan Farr