Written by April De Angelis and directed by Jordan Best, Playhouse Creatures shines the spotlight on five actresses in a disturbing and poignant study of the evolving roles of women in theatre during the momentous restoration period.
Playhouse Creatures transports you back to the filthy and less moral times of 1669, after the end of a puritanical England, and into the restoration period. The stifled people are on the rebound and finally able to live a little again, with the theatres reopening for entertainment after years of misery and suppression. King Charles II has returned from exile in France, and the monarchy is restored. As a theatre lover, he opens the stage to women by decreeing that men were no longer to play the female roles, enabling women the opportunity to have a fulfilling career in the Arts for the first time, or so they thought. Theatre boomed, with audiences desperate to see the the buxom young ripe actresses on the stage. However, instead of being lauded for their talent they were expected to parade their bodies to titillate and excite the audiences, and viewed more as sex objects rather than thespians. The actresses are viewed as animated prostitutes, and are expected to allow the gentlemen to watch them change costumes and continue to ‘entertain’ after the curtain falls.
A young but determined sixteen-year old Nell Gwynn, played by Zoe Priest, is not deterred. In her desperation to get off the streets, she has set her sights on the Playhouse Theatre and the King himself. She starts by selling oranges, and despite her attempts to act being thwarted by a cunning Miss Farley (Yanina Clifton), she manipulates and dances her way to the top, becoming a concubine for the King accessed by a secret passageway, in return for access to hers!
The play is a disturbing and dark study on the hideous and demeaning lives of women at the time, despite the potential for change in feminine roles. The young Miss Farley attempts a gruesome abortion back stage when she becomes too big to act. After the failed attempt, she is shunned from the theatre and into street prostitution after abandoning her baby on some church steps. The seemingly frivolous and naive Mrs Marshall (Andrea Close) is uncomfortable being a kept woman, as she is treated like a pet by the Earl of Oxford in return for ‘favours.’ He eventually further demeans her by smearing her hair in his faeces then boots her out of his life. An empowering scene was when Mrs Marshall, wanting revenge, fashions a homunculus (a poppet) to perform witchcraft on the unsuspecting Earl, with the actresses gathered around to help backstage. The scenario evolves into the famous double trouble witches scene from Macbeth, as each woman cursed their own situations and seeks revenge on the men involved.
Even Mary Betterton (played brilliantly by Karen Vickery), the wife of Mr Betterton who owns the theatre, has very little influence over hers and the young actresses’ roles. Once the great thespian, she is gradually sidelined to small bit parts as she ages and is less desirable to the gentlemen in the audience. Her parting soliloquy as Lady Macbeth was a moving testament to the tragedy of the loss of the societal value in ageing women.
An emotive touch throughout the performance was the director Jordan Best straddling a cello at the side of the stage, playing mournful music as an accompaniment to every scene and further heightening the ennui of the actresses.
Fortunately, there is some comical relief provided by Doll Common, played raucously by Liz Bradley. Doll is the behind the scenes old maid who helps with the maintenance of the theatre and the actresses. She acts as a confidant to the ladies and provides the one-liners of relief throughout the play. Using a broad ocker Aussie accent, she happily slings chamberpots and tightens corsets backstage, whilst pepping up the girls before each scene, or sometimes plays a silent part on the stage as an extra. She at first appears silly and coarse, but eventually transforms into the powerful matriarch of the group, illustrating that each woman has many roles to play in life.
Playhouse Creatures was powerful, disturbing and poignant with glimpses of nudity, confronting themes and bawdy language, focussing on the power of the feminine will in the restoration period, despite patriarchal oppression.
Written by April De Angelis
Directed by Jordan Best
QUT Gardens Theatre, Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29 August, 2018
Pigeonhole Theatre, HIT Productions and QUT Gardens Theatre
Dr Gemma Regan