Playhouse Creatures invites its five female characters to tease and mock (and curse loudly if necessary) the prejudices of the late 1600s, a time when actresses were a novelty, navigating both great opportunities and significant risks. The play unravels as five actresses, different in age, personalities, and life decisions, experience the glorious and dark moments of their profession together. The play repeatedly draws a comparison between actresses and circus animals, highlighting their struggle between agency and objectification. Are they individual performers, or just a plaything, a spectacle for the audience?
The young and beautiful Nell Gwyn looks like a typical heroine from adventure fiction: she comes from a poor background but dreams big. With determination, she makes it to the grand stage, standing under the spotlight, showered by admiration and applause. Zoe Brough’s rendition of Gwyn is vibrant and energetic, making scenes where a rookie actress miraculously won over the audience more convincing than cliché. However, this is all one can say about this character, as there is very little psychological depth or meaningful development.
The rivalry between Gwyn and Mrs Farley, another young actress, is underdeveloped, with their interactions often reduced to shallow hostility rather than nuanced tension. Despite sharing the same profession and witnessing each other’s struggles, their relationship remains unexplored beyond surface-level tension.
Nicole Sawyerr’s performance of Mrs Farley is flat, resembling Disney characters. She has the script to blame: the transition from a timid, shy daughter of a priest to a popular actress, drunk with vanity, is barely touched upon. When Mrs Farley has to give up her career in highly emotional scenes, the effects are questionable, as lack of character development leaves the audience with a dry conclusion: Here comes the tragedy.
Playhouse Creatures is aware that the presence of real women onstage can be eroticised by the audience. It plays with this fact by staging episodes of serious classics with comically sexualised performances, where the most innocent lines are performed in an arousing way. While initially amusing, this approach quickly becomes repetitive and raises the question: does it serve a deeper purpose beyond entertaining both modern audiences and their 17th-century counterparts?
Mrs Betterton, a senior actress who teaches acting and sees a calling in this profession, could have provided more powerful scenes in response to this question. But that didn’t happen. Nevertheless, Anna Chancellor and Katherine Kingsley no doubt gave mature and well-rounded performances of their characters, who used their courage and wit to navigate the tricky roles of actresses.
Playhouse Creatures doesn’t give the audience an easy way out, but it is mostly because women’s lives are intense in themselves: being objectified, unintended pregnancy, forced abortion, financial insecurity… These elements are present, almost like a routine. It is easy to answer challenging themes with laughter and occasional moments of sincerity.
Playhouse Creatures runs until 12 April at the Orange Tree before touring to Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford from 22 – 26 April and Theatre Royal Bath from 28 April – 3 May.
