Filles de scèneApril De Angelis2014

April de Angelis' Playhouse Creatures is a script that deals with the first five actresses on the British stage in the 1660s. It does several things well. First it is historically well-researched. Women on the stage in the 1660s and 1670s were primarily for prurient display and this play gets it right. Second, it's a good play. The stories of these women blend well and this is a much tighter play dramaturgically than the longer version with an additional actress character and two poorly conceived wits (one of them is Otway but he's a cliche). The five character version is the best and shows De Angelis' gift for tighly written dialogue and excellent plot manipulation. For theatre history as well as good dramaturgy, I receommend this play.

Titre original : Playhouse Creatures (1997)