In Playhouse Creatures, by April DeAngelis, female actors strive to overcome the prejudice of the 17th century upper class who see any actress as a ‘kept woman’.
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Director Jordan Best of Pigeonhole Theatre says she is proud of the all-female cast, female set designer, and costume designer, something the play’s subject women would never have seen in their lifetime.
“Our company started because I kept directing shows with a massive cast for men and yet had I had all these incredible women available.”
She says the inequality of male to female parts is just part of what is akin to the prejudices the Playhouse Creatures had to endure. She has been a director for 12 years and is still being described as “emerging”.
Best says so as not to be biased in the opposite direction the company decided not to work exclusively with women, but to look at plays featuring women first.
“It may be slowly changing, but there are more women than men [in the industry] but more work for men than for women. We need to be programming more female writers.” She says people go to see shows they have heard of, with actors they have seen before, but in order for more females to become well known, better parts for women of all ages need to be written.
“Women are half the stories of the world. I directed Macbeth, and I fought really hard with the company to be able to cast a woman in the lead role.”
“As a woman who can’t stay away from the theatre, I can’t imagine what it would be like to desperately want to perform but not be allowed.”
In the 17th century, no respectable woman would be on stage because they were seen as prostitutes. “It’s not such a long time ago that it was still seen as pay for play,” Best says.
She fell in love with the play as soon as she read it. “They are so brave and interesting and strong. And the world April DeAngeles has created with the script is so vivid, it really draws you in.”
The characters of Mary Betterton, Rebecca Marshall, and Elizabeth Farley are all real women, as is Nell Gwyn, one of the first English actresses and a mistress of King Charles II. “It’s funny, my husband likes footy and James Bond but he loved it. The characters are so beautifully drawn.
“So much of the stuff that happens in it, you think, ‘oh it’s still happening’. Women are still so often seen as eye candy.” The costumes are genuine to the period as is the setting, but Best says it’s “not a ‘ye olde’ play”.
“It is really entertaining – a good night at the theatre. You will laugh and cry hopefully. Whatever message you take home from it, whether it’s a passion for doing what you love, or you see it as purely historical, you will have enjoyed it.”
