Movies - Stage Beauty

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	Movies - Stage Beauty

Stage Beauty is a 2004 romantic drama film set in the 1660s, starring Claire Danes and Billy Crudup. It was directed by Richard Eyre and adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from his own play, Compleat Female Stage Beauty.

It follows the fortunes of and relationship between Maria (Claire Danes), one of the first actresses to perform female roles on the English stage, and Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) one of the leading male actors of these roles. Although the Maria character and the storyline is fictional, it is based on the historical period (c. 1660) when actresses first appeared on the English stage, and includes real historical figures such as Ned Kynaston, Samuel Pepys, Charles II and Charles II's favourite mistress, Nell Gwynne. Kynaston is represented as a foppish bisexual, who slowly reveals more complexity in his personality and his sexuality.

Historical accuracy

Some of the film's scenes have historical bases. The first English actress is indeed believed to have performed the role of Desdemona in Othello, although her name is unknown (Thomson, 206-7). The sequence in which Kynaston rides with ladies in a coach dressed as a woman is based on a contemporary anecdote.

However, the film also contains some inaccuracies; in particular Nell Gwyn is represented as a mistress of the King who subsequently becomes an actress; in fact she was already a theatre actress when the King met her. The sequence in which Maria and Kynaston discover naturalistic acting is also anachronistic, as naturalism was not developed until the nineteenth century.

Filming locations

Most of Stage Beauty's external scenes were shot on location in Greenwich, London, at the 17th century Greenwich Hospital (now the University of Greenwich); some scenes were also filmed in the Hospital's Painted Hall.

Memorable quotes

Ned Kynaston: "A woman playing a woman? Where's the trick in that?"
King Charles II: "Why shouldn't we have women on stage? After all, the French have been doing it for years."
Sir Edward Hyde: "Whenever we're about to do something truly horrible, we always say that the French have been doing it for years."

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Stage Beauty ]

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