Playhouse Creatures

In 1660, after 17 years of Puritan rule, Charles II returned to England as King and the theatres were re-opened. He also decreed that women would, for the first time, be allowed to perform on the English stage. The King and many others turned out in droves to see these ‘actresses’, who were often seen at the time as little more than ‘whores’.

Playhouse Creatures explores in a bawdy way the lives of some of the Restoration’s most renowned actresses, including Nell Gwyn, Mary Betterton and Rebecca Marshall. The play shows the onstage performances, backstage rivalries and offstage affairs that were part of the glittering world of these pioneer players, as they struggled to be taken seriously as artists, knowing all the time they were never far from the gutter.