Stage Beauty (2004)

Stage Beauty (2004)



Ned Kynaston: A woman playing a woman? Where's the trick in that?

King Charles II: Why shouldn't we have women on stage?  After all, the French have been doing it for years.
Sir Edward Hyde: Whenever we're about to do something truly horrible, we always say that the French have been doing it for years.

While it didn't all quite fit together, I did find Stage Beauty interesting.

It is set (surprise surprise, if you've ready my other reviews) during the reign of Charles II, which is why I checked it out.  According the movie, it was illegal before the Restoration for women to act on the stage, so men played the female parts.  An actor famed for performing female roles was Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup).  He has studied since he was a boy to master the art of playing women on the stage, and has received praise and acclaim for his skill.  When in costume, he is considered very beautiful, and he has even caught the eye of the Duke of Buckingham, the King's friend, with whom he conducts a clandestine affair.  His assistant, Maria (Claire Danes), is in love with Kynaston, unbeknownst to him, but she also aspires to be an actress.  Watching him night after night, she performs his part, Desdemona, in a small production of Othello.



Kynaston is angry when he finds out:

Sir Charles Sedley: So, Kynaston, will you see Mrs. Hughes perform?
Maria: Yes, I'd love to know what you think of the death scene.
Kynaston: Oh, I'm always interested in how my rivals die.

But when Nell Gwynne, the King's mistress, hears of her performance, and that Kynaston has refused to act alongside Maria, she pressures the King to not only make it legal for women to act on the stage, but to make it illegal for men to do so.

The real Edward Kynaston,
Ned and the Duke of Buckinham,
and a portrait of the real Duke of Buckingham.

Devastated, afraid he cannot perform male roles and abandoned by Buckingham, Kynaston sinks into despair (Buckingham is quite cruel and dismissive in his rejection: "I don't want you!  Not as you are now.  When I did spend time with you, I always thought of you as a woman.  When we were in bed, it was always in a bed on stage.  I'd think, "Here I am, in a play inside Desdemona."  Cleopatra, poor Ophelia!  You're none of them now.  I don't know who you are.  I doubt you do.").

Samuel Pepys (Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey), a contemporary who is famous for his meticulously kept diary, tries to comfort him, to no avail:

Pepys: You know, Mr. K, the performance of yours I always liked best?  As much as I adored your Desdemona and your Juliet, I've always loved best your 'britches' parts.  Rosalind, for instance.  And not just because of the woman stuff but also because of the man sections.  Your performance of the man stuff seemed so right, so true.  I suppose I felt it was the most real in the play.
Kynaston: You know why the man stuff seemed so real?  Because I'm pretending.  You see a man through the mirror of a woman through the mirror of a man.  You take one of those reflecting glasses away it doesn't work.  The man only works because you see him in contrast to the woman he is.  If you saw him without the her he lives inside, he wouldn't seem a man at all.
Pepys: Yes.  You've obviously thought longer on this question than I.

Kynaston is furious with Maria, mocking her lack of official stage instruction, but she holds her ground, while still sympathizing with his plight:

Ned Kynaston: I have worked half my life to do what I do.  Fourteen boys crammed in a cellar.  Do you know when I was in training for this profession, I was not permitted to wear a woman's dress for three long years.  I was not permitted to wear a wig for four -not until I had proved that I had eliminated every masculine gesture, every masculine intonation from my very being.  What teacher did you learn from?  What cellar was your home?
Maria: I had no teacher, nor such a classroom.  But then, I had less need of training.

In desperation, Kynaston tries to approach Nell, to see if she can influence the King to change things back, and bumps into Charles himself:

Kynaston: I want to act.
Charles II: Then act.
Kynaston: I want to act as I did before.
Charles II: You mean the girls' parts.
Kynaston: If you will.
Charles II: I won't.  Balance the scales, Kynaston, give the girls a chance...Act a man, Kynaston.  How hard can it be?
Kynaston: It is not a question of acting a man.  I can act a man.  There's no artistry in that.  There are things that I can be as a woman that I cannot be as a man.

Challenged to prove his argument by giving an impromptu masculine performance, Kynaston breaks down when he finds himself unable to put aside his femininity, and his impassioned plea dissolves into wretched tears.  Those witnessing the collapse look on in pity.

In a rare moment of solemnity, the once banished King observes: "Exile is a dreadful thing for one who knows his rightful place."

Kynaston slinks away in defeat and vanishes from the mainstream theater scene.

Maria and a portrait of the real Mrs. Margaret Hughes.

Maria, going by the stage name Margaret Hughes, has earned fame as the first female actress, while not necessarily displaying real talent.  As other women flock to the stage, Maria's lack of skill becomes increasingly apparent.  She laments to Pepys:

Maria: Mr. Pepys- who do you write all those little notes for?
Pepys: For myself, alone.
Maria: Do you enjoy it?
Pepys: I love it.  Don't you love acting?
Maria: Yes.  But unfortunately, I cannot do it for myself alone, for I fear in truth I am terrible at it.
Pepys: Oh, now!  Now, my dear Mrs. Hughes!  You are too harsh on yourself.  You made your debut as the first actress on the English stage.
Maria: Mr. Pepys, when I made my debut, was I a good actress?
Pepys: Mrs. Hughes, there was no comparison.

She seeks out Kynaston, obviously still in love with him.  His feelings remain unclear.  He seems to identify as a woman to a degree, and I thought he was gay, but he doesn't exactly seem put-off by her advances, and appears willing to explore a relationship with her, so perhaps he was bisexual.



He angers her when he interrupts their amorous activities to ask about her performance as Desdemona, and she berates him before departing: "Your old tutor did you a great disservice, Mr. Kynaston.  He taught you how to speak, and swoon, and toss your head but he never taught you how to suffer like a woman, or love like a woman.  He trapped a man in a woman's form and left you there to die!  I always hated you as Desdemona.  You never fought!  You just died, beautifully.  No woman would die like that, no matter how much she loved him.  A woman would fight!"

Ironically, considering this scathing critique, in her turn as Desdemona, she completely apes Kynaston.  Thomas Betterton (Tom Wilkinson), Kynaston's old theater manager, needs a successful performance of Othello, telling Maria, "My dear, the King comes tonight to decide whether to patronize my theater again."  Nell and Pepys beg Kynaston to come back and help her:

Nell Gwynne.

Pepys: If you could just take her in hand.
Nell Gwynne: Teach her some tricks and turns.
Pepys: Most of the play she'll get by, it's the end that's bad.  When she dies.
Nell: She's no good!  I say this as a friend.
Pepys: Mr Kynaston, have you ever seen Mrs Hughes on the stage?
Kynaston: I saw her audition, that was enough.  Why?  What's she like?
Nell: You.  She does you.  Every inflection, every bat of the eye, bits of business, vocal tricks...
Kynaston: Then she shouldn't be half bad.
Pepys: But it doesn't work!He agrees, on the condition that he play The Turk, and coaches her.

During the play, he genuinely attacks her on the stage, smothering her and almost killing her, resulting in an amazing "performance."  It's very intense as they audience watches in confusion and horror, not sure if what they're watching is real or part of the play.  When Maria suddenly gasps for breath and is revealed to be alive, there is obvious relief, and the play is met with wild applause.  What was Kynaston thinking?  He doesn't seem displeased that she is alive.  Did he actually mean to kill or, or no?  It sure sounds like he did:

Maria: You almost killed me!
Kynaston: I did kill you, you just didn't die.
Maria: Why didn't you finish me off?
Kynaston: I finally got the death scene right.

Regardless, she doesn't seem to care at all, and kisses him jubilantly.  It's a messed up relationship (I don't care if he elicited an amazing performance out of you, he tried to kill you, and that's not a kiss-worthy moment!), and left me confused, but it was entertaining.

Rupert Everett as Charles II and a portrait of the real Charles II.

Rupert Everett plays Charles II (he played Charles's father, Charles I, in To Kill a King).  He was pretty good.  Not my favorite Charles, but good.  Unlike John Malkovich, he emphasizes the more fun-loving side of Charles, but does also gives him some more serious moments.

Zoe Tapper as Nell Gwynne and a portrait of the real Nell Gwynne.

Zoe Tapper was very entertaining as Nell Gwynne, seducing Charles to get what she wants, and showing a lot of charmingly plain-spoken spunk.

Claire Danes and Billy Crudup were both excellent.  Crudup's part was very challenging, as Kynaston was a complex character.  Claire Danes played a more straight-forward part, but did it well.

In the end, I didn't entirely understand what had happened, or what would happen (it's highly fictionalized, particularly the relationship between Marie and Kynaston, so history can't answer where the film-makers pictured things going, but oh well).  Between the strong performances and the good script, it's worth a watch.