Stage Beauty

The first time I saw this story in a theater, it was a play about the theater. Now, its a movie about actors. Its an enjoyable movie, not only because Claire danes plays a very convincing bad actress. Actually, she plays the first actress to ever grae the British stage.

The story is taken from an account in one of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, who was fortunate enough to witness the Last “female stage beauty”, that is, a man who plays a woman on stage.

Like I said, the screenplay was taken from a script, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which was performed as part of an early season of the Contemporary American Theater Festival, right here in little old Shepherdstown, West Virginia.