Woman, what is thy role? Play explores ‘a woman’s place’ on stage and off
by Corey Stulce
10-12-2007

Photo by John Lamb
Magan Wiles plays Nelly Gwyn in “Playhouse Creatures.”

Who is the first lady of comedy? Joan Rivers? Phyllis Diller?

Some may argue that hundreds of years before those women — and their plastic surgeries — another bawdy lass took to the stage at a time when it was with shock and awe to see a real live female performing in plays.

Nell Gwyn, a mistress of King Charles II, is little-known but still iconic in the theater world, especially for St. Louis’ Orange Girls theater company — the namesake of the troupe coming from the 17th-century Restoration period where women would sell fruit and treats at theatrical performances.

Gwyn was one of those “orange girls,” before joining the ranks of men on stage when she was a teen. The struggles and sacrifices of these early acting pioneers are chronicled in British playwright Angel de Angelis’ “Playhouse Creatures,” which is being presented by the Orange Girls Oct. 12-28.

The play was commissioned by the Women’s Theatre Company, now known as Sphinx, and was first presented in 1993. De Angelis was a fresh writer at the time, having recently left acting behind, and penned the play while she was pregnant and when her new baby was asleep, she said.

“I knew nothing about the first women actresses before I started writing, so research was very important — and there isn’t much information out there,” de Angelis stated in an e-mail interview. She said a book by Elizabeth Howe, “The First English Actresses,” was very helpful. In it Howe wrote Gwyn was “the most famous Restoration actress of all time, possessed of an extraordinary comic talent.”

Though Gwyn was known to have a succession of lovers, including the king, de Angelis thinks she sought out the best life she could attain, given her circumstances.

“Is any woman different to that? If they are, they are a fool,” she said. “I don’t think she was ever immoral or unprincipled in the pursuit of this. Although I think she had to choose between her art and her life at the end.”

The play takes some historical liberties, de Angelis said, because she was only allowed to write for five actresses. The Orange Girls production will feature company co-founders Michelle Hand and Brooke Edwards, as well as Nancy Lewis, Julie Layton and Magan Wiles, with direction by Deanna Jent. Other early actresses portrayed in “Playhouse Creatures” include Elizabeth Farley, Rebecca Marshall, Doll Common and Mary Betterton.

“One issue addressed in my play is the way that women’s lives are circumscribed in terms of the roles available to them both on stage and off that I believe still has a relevance today,” de Angelis said, citing Hillary Clinton as a current example.

Though during the Restoration women were beginning to be celebrated as stage performers, de Angelis said it was a double-edged sword, as hostility toward the “Creatures” was also present. “You couldn’t act on stage if you were pregnant,” she said. “Marshall (was) hounded out for daring to revenge her seducer.”

Fast-forward more than 450 years: “I am still writing plays in a world where still the most artistic directors/critics are men,” she continued. “But it is getting better.”

A Ladies Night Out will be held on Oct. 19 in which groups of 10 or more can purchase $15 tickets and can attend a post-play wine reception with the performers. The company also offers free babysitting for Sunday matinees for children aged 1 to 12.

You can e-mail Corey Stulce at frozo85@hotmail.com.

• Orange Girls’ “Playhouse Creatures”
• Oct. 12-28
• 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday matinees.
• Center of Contemporary Arts, 524 Trinity Ave.
• $20, $18 for students, seniors
• orangegirls.org, 314-520-9557

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