Curtain Call

Stage Beauty

Director: Richard Eyre

Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin

Cert: 12.

It may remind you of the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love, but Eyre’s excellent return to the Elizabethan stage is a more witty, clever and meaningful film, based as it is on screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher’s own stage play.

We are back in the 17th century when female roles on stage were played by males, when Ned Kynaston (Crudup, in great form) makes a fine Desdemona.

When, eventually, men playing women was outlawed, Kynaston finds he has a dangerous rival for the parts he played so well, his own ambitious dresser, Maria (Danes).

Competition and romance strut the stage.

There actually was a Ned Kynaston, and Margaret Hughes (Maria) is credited with being the first actress on the English stage.

This is a colourful and delightfully-told story, enhanced by a cast who are clearly enjoying themselves (none more so than Everett at his most camp as Charles ll). Crudup is also in top form, though Danes has been given a character who is under-used.

It’s all a lot of fun.

Star Rating: 4/5