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Monday, 08 August 2005 |
  It may not be widely known, at least to those who have never seen Shakespeare in Love, but for centuries it was illegal in much of Western Europe for women to perform on stage. This law changed in England in 1660 when the previously exiled King Charles II deemed that female characters would now be played by women instead of men. One consequence of this law was that an entire section of the acting community was put out of work and a new one was created. One of those who lost his career was Ned Kynaston, an actor who had made quite a successful career out of portraying women. Kynaston's story is the basis of Stage Beauty.
Kynaston (Billy Crudup) had become quite well known for his "accurate" portrayal of such women as Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello. He acts the part with dramatic, excessively feminine gestures, a comically high voice and an overdose of melodramatic style. His gasping, helpless portrayal of the ill fated woman brings down the house every night, to the point of momentarily halting the play. His dresser is a young woman named Maria (Claire Danes) who surreptitiously takes his costume and props to a sort of underground theater in order to play the character herself under the stage name Mrs. Margaret Hughes. There is no indication Maria is actually married, but apparently while the rebel audience is willing to watch an illegal performance by a woman, it is too much of a stretch for that woman to be unmarried.
When the man playing Emilia storms out due to Kynaston's popularity and how it results in his own lines being interrupted, the search begins for someone to take his place. The company leader, Betterton (Tom Wilkinson) learns of Maria's secret performances and despite a thoroughly wretched audition, once he learns of how she packs the house every night, considers hiring her for the part. The problem is, it is illegal. Changing that fact turns out to be easier than expected when King Charles II (Rupert Everett), more than a little resentful over the murder of his father and two decades of exile, is interested in making some changes. Charles decrees the law will change and Maria becomes an overnight sensation. The problem is, Maria is an awful actress and she knows it, which does not seem to bother anyone else, except maybe Kynaston, so long as she fills seats.
Stage Beauty is based almost entirely on actual people and events, so it may seem odd to refer to it as a fable, but the film itself is not so much a recreation of the actual 17th Century as a modernized depiction of it. The characters walk around in period attire and with suitable accents, but there is a distinctly 21st Century undercurrent to the production, including the curiously modern, Irish music playing through much of it. Claire Danes and Billy Crudup are undeniably talented, but thoroughly modern actors. Rupert Everett hams wonderfully in his outstanding, gender bending performance as the English King. He is almost too good to believe in the role, but he is not exactly 17th Century. Stage Beauty may be primarily a work of non-fiction but it is carried off as fantasy, though a distinctly adult fantasy with heavy doses of innuendo and blurred sexual boundaries. Adult themes aside, it is more Princess Bride than Gandhi, which is actually why it works so well.
The reason this approach is successful is because these events of almost 350 years ago are still applicable today, if not even more so. It is actually the difference between the Pop Superstar and the lifetime of work and commitment of someone like Kynaston which Stage Beauty is actually about, though Kynaston does learn his approach to acting has been a bit misguided. The main difference between the 17th Century version of the story and the current day is, while Maria, the pop sensation, is a terrible actress (which might as well be a synonym for "pop sensation") she actually knows it and wants to do something about it. Her main obstacle is that she is in uncharted territory. All she has ever seen is men portraying women and at first she acts a woman playing a man playing a women, which makes her performance completely comical. The result of her efforts to improve her skill is "method acting", which actually would not exist for centuries, but watching it and particularly the reaction of the Renaissance audience is amusing and thoroughly enjoyable
Starring: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, Ben Chaplin, Zoe Tapper, Richard Griffiths, Hugh Bonneville, Clare Higgins.
Director: Richard Eyre
Written by: Jeffrey Hatcher
Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Rated: R
Running Time: 110 mins
Release: 2004
Reviewer: John Rice
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