Playhouse Creatures: 'dream-like' play is 'lively, funny and sharp-witted'
Anna Chancellor offers a 'glinting performance' alongside a 'strong' supporting cast

"April De Angelis goes time travelling again," said Clive Davis in The Times.
Last year, her portrait of Sarah Siddons, a star of the late 18th century London stage, premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London. Now, a "vivacious" revival of 1993's "Playhouse Creatures" – her drama about the pioneering women who were the first to be allowed to tread the boards when the theatres reopened during the Restoration – has opened at the Orange Tree in Richmond.
This is a fractured, "dream-like" piece, in which we eavesdrop on the women backstage as they discuss their lives and their work, and also see them perform in front of an invisible audience – which, channelled through the production's "nuanced sound design", sometimes responds with "ripe misogynistic abuse". The historical figures are arguably one-dimensional. But the cast, led by Anna Chancellor as Mary Betterton, the "imperious" wife of a theatre owner, "invest their characters with so much passion and humour that you are content to overlook the minimal plotting".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The play is more a "snapshot" of a moment in time than a "coloured-in portrait", said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. Still, it is an "entertaining and enlightening ensemble work" about that period in the 17th century when the first cohort of female actors emerged and were "regarded simultaneously as trailblazers, renegades and oddities akin to dancing bears". Chancellor gives a "glinting performance" as Betterton. Zoe Brough is a spirited Nell Gwyn. And there's strong support from Katherine Kingsley as Mrs Marshall, whose affair with an earl has left her vulnerable to audience abuse; Nicole Sawyerr as Mrs Farley, a "soapbox Christian" turned actress; and Doña Croll as "Doll Common".
The play evokes a "heady sense" of a new profession "for the young, poor, female and brave", said Libby Purves on TheatreCat.com. And Michael Oakley's deftly staged and handsomely designed revival is "lively, funny, sharp-witted" and thought-provoking.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 tactically sound cartoons about the leaked Signal chat
Cartoons Artists take on the clown signal, baby steps, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Adolescence and the toxic online world: what's the solution?
Talking Point The hit Netflix show is a window into the manosphere, red pills and incels
By The Week Staff Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Adolescence and the toxic online world: what's the solution?
Talking Point The hit Netflix show is a window into the manosphere, red pills and incels
By The Week Staff Published
-
Snow White: Disney's 'earnest effort to meet an impossible brief'
Talking Point Live-action remake of Disney classic is not the disaster it could have been – but where's the personality?
By The Week UK Published
-
Don McCullin picks his favourite books
The Week Recommends The photojournalist shares works by Daniel Defoe, Lesley Blanch and Roland Philipps
By The Week UK Published
-
6 breathtaking homes in capital cities
Feature Featuring a glass conservatory in Atlanta and a loft library in Boston
By The Week US Published
-
The CIA Book Club: 'entertaining and vivid' book explores a huge Cold War secret
The Week Recommends 'Gripping' narrative explores a covert smuggling operation across the Iron Curtain
By The Week UK Published
-
Cherry blossom season: Washington diners’ happy time
feature The five best spots to enjoy the festivities
By The Week US Published
-
Film reviews: Eephus and The Day the Earth Blew Up
feature Small-town baseballers play their final game and Porky and Daffy return to the big screen
By The Week US Published