Stage Beauty (2004)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Richard Eyre

Writers (WGA):

Jeffrey Hatcher (play)
Jeffrey Hatcher (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 September 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

She was the first of her kind. He was the last of his.

Plot:

A female theatre dresser creates a stir and sparks a revolution in seventeenth century London theatre by playing Desedmona in Othello. But what will become of the male actor she once worked for and eventually replaced?

Plot Keywords:

Theatre | Actor | Gender | Homosexual | Play

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Derek Hutchinson	...	Stage Manager
Mark Letheren	...	Male Emilia / Dickie
Claire Danes	...	Maria
Billy Crudup	...	Ned Kynaston
Tom Wilkinson	...	Betterton
Ben Chaplin	...	George Villiars, Duke of Buckingham
Hugh Bonneville	...	Samuel Pepys
Jack Kempton	...	Call Boy
Alice Eve	...	Miss Frayne
Fenella Woolgar	...	Lady Meresvale
David Westhead	...	Harry
Nick Barber	...	Nick
Stephen Marcus	...	Thomas Cockerell
Richard Griffiths	...	Sir Charles Sedley
Zoe Tapper	...	Nell Gwynn

Also Known As:

Compleat Female Stage Beauty (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

UK | Germany | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:16 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Iceland:12 | Germany:12 | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:M18 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Qwerty Films

Trivia:

Kate Winslet was originally offered the female lead but she pulled out shortly before filming started.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Pepys is telling Kynaston to play a man's role, Kynaston's lips are out of sync with his speech in some shots.

Quotes:

King Charles II: Kynaston? How in hell did you get in here?
Ned Kynaston: A former fellow actor is your undercook and has long been dear a friend to me.
King Charles II: Then we'll have to execute him.
[Kynaston blanches]
Sir Edward Hyde: [groans] Ohhhh.
King Charles II: [sighs] A joke. A joke. Calm down, Kynaston.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Daily Show: (2004-10-21)" (2004)

English thespians

This movie has the blessing of the flawless direction of Richard Eyre, who knows a lot about kings and queens. The screen play is adapted by the author of the play, Jeffrey Hatcher. Surprisingly, these two men have been able to create a film that is not only visually satisfying, but it also is an adult entertainment.

This movie gives us a glimpse of how theatre functioned in England up to the times of Charles II. The female roles of all plays were portrayed by male actors. The school of acting in that era was an artificial one where actors relied in gestures and affectations that would be laughable today in a serious drama, but that was the way it was the accepted Method then, nothing to do with Stanivslaski, or Strassberg.

The leading figure of that theatrical world was Ned Keynaston, who was the most famous Desdemona of his time. There must have been a lot of gay men that were attracted to that world, as was the case with Mr. Keynaston, who might have been bisexual, although that comes as a secondary subplot. This actor is greatly admired by all, including the dressing assistant, Maria. This girl loved to be in the theatre, but could not, because only men were allowed. So instead, she goes to a second rate company that puts on plays in a pub and emerges as Margaret Hughes, an actress in her own right who will challenge Keynaston's Desdemona and makes that role, her signature role as well.

Claire Danes, as Maria, or Margaret Hughes, has never been better! She shines as the girl whose ambition is to be on stage. She is wonderful in the part. Ned, played with gusto by Billy Crudup, shows an unexpected range, although he has done theatre extensively. Both of these actors takes us back to London and make us believe that what we are watching.

A glorious English cast behind the two American principals are gathered to play effortlessly the theatrical figures of the time, and also the King and his court. Ruper Everett, as King Charles II, is hilarious. The scene in which he plays in drag with his mistress, Nell Gwynn, is one of the best things of the movie. Also, Richard Griffith, as lecherous Sir Charles Sedley, gives a stellar performance. Ben Chaplin, as the Duke of Buckingham, reveals the ambiguity of the men that were attracted to those early thespians.

Thoroughly enjoyable because of Richard Eyre's direction and eye for detail.