In 1660, King Charles II reclaimed the English throne and ushered in a period of dramatic cultural change. His fancy for most things fun and French gave women the freedom to pursue a career on stage, hitherto the sanctified domain of men, many of whom had forged spectacular careers as women. Thus the pitiable concern of winsome star Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) whose portrayal of  Othello’s Desdemona was second to one – his dresser Maria (Claire Danes) who quickly eclipsed his reputation. Ned’s disdain for playing men - “what’s the trick of that?” - was soon replaced by inability: he simply didn’t know how to. Out of fashion and out of work, dropped by colleagues and lovers that included the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Chaplin), adrift between jobs and genders, it was left to Maria to rescue Ned from burlesque oblivion.

That this treatment includes a vivid explanation of how two men behave in bed and that Ned is left healed, though no more a ‘conventional’ man than ever he was, is commendation for the pluck of director Richard Eyre (Iris). Inevitable comparisons with Shakespeare In Love may miss the vital difference of Stage Beauty – the formers Viola knew she was playing a man, the latter’s Ned is only sure that on stage he is a woman. In part a treatise on gender empowerment, Stage Beauty is also an effervescent, period drama with more than a splash of farcical colour best displayed in the form of Rupert Everett’s foppish King and his shrewish mistress Nell Gwynne. They supply the comedy, Billy and Claire supply the drama while 17^th century London supplies a fragrant backdrop to the delightfully, bawdy shenanigans.

// COLIN FRASER