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Theatre

Review: Nell Gwynn

Gemma's a delightfully winning Gwynn

February 18, 2016 12:17
Bawdy: The cast of Nell Gwynn

ByJohn Nathan, John Nathan

1 min read

Jessica Swayle's joyful play works like a dream on so many levels. When Charles II cries "Down with austerity," he may of course be referring to Oliver Cromwell's notorious era of puritanism, but the cheeky grin tilted at the audience confirms that this is a very modern joke. And when Gemma Arterton's Nell Gwynn - the prostitute who became Britain's first famous actress - cracks any one of her filthy one-liners, she too is playing to today's crowd.

The action is set in late 1660s Reformation London. But Christopher Luscombe's production has not a hint of po-faced costume drama about it. Its sheer fun lies in its ability to combine a saucy, winking knowingness with some pretty serious observations about how women are depicted in the theatre. And not just then, now too.

"They've disgraced our trade. Ruined our art. They've put a woman on the stage'' protests a male actor whose job involves donning a wig and linen breasts to play female roles. He is no match at all for Arterton's Nell who pushes the theatre company's writer in residence John Dryden into giving her some decent roles to play.

"You can write for a real woman now," she tells him. "We're as knotty and tangly as you are, and yet how do you write for us? 'Oh Romeo, Romeo, lend me your dagger so I can kill myself!'"