CATRIONA PAUL at the movies.

Stage Beauty is an absorbing drama set in Restoration London from director Richard Eyre, (of Iris fame), and writer Jeffrey Hatcher. Inspired by two famous actors from the 17th century, much of the action in this film centres on the theatre. No surprise then to find it compared to Shakespeare in Love. But where the former felt frothy, Stage Beauty is altogether more satisfying.
  
Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) is an actor famous for playing leading ladies in an era that bans women from appearing on stage. But when Charles II (Rupert Everett) reverses this ban, Kynaston’s costume assistant, Maria, (Claire Danes) becomes England’s first actress. Knynaston’s finds himself out of a job, cast aside by his lover Buckingham (Ben Chaplin) and brutally beaten. All is not lost – Maria may have undone Knyaston’s career but she is also in love with him and in need of acting lessons. Reunited, she encourages him to discover himself both as an actor in male roles, and as an individual away from the stage.
 
Bitter-sweet and bawdy humour flavours the film – Kynaston adopting gender at will to accept or rebuff advances, and later, rehearsing sexual roles with Maria in an unconventional seduction which she initiates. But what defines this film is Crudup’s sensational performance as Kynaston. Building on a wonderful script, Crudup has created a deeply sympathetic character almost against the odds of bisexuality and cross-dressing, creating a hero and becoming a heartthrob.

Danes, who debuted in the wonderful TV serial, My So Called Life and followed this up with Luhrnman’s Romeo and Juliet, perfectly balances Crudup as the resolute Maria -admirably self-reliant, yet bold in her pursuit of a difficult love. Chapin’s fiendish Buckingham and Everett’s principled but foppish Charles II could easily have stolen scenes if it had not been for the quality of the stars.
 
Stage Beauty takes its time telling Kynaston’s s story and exploring identity, gender and sexuality – every minute fascinating. Crudup’s performance is genuinely exceptional and entirely captivating. Stage Beauty is a definite must-see.
  
STAGE BEAUTY
General release from September 3

Director: Richard Eyre
Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher
Stars: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Ben Chaplin, Tom Wilkinson, Hugh Bonneville, Edward Fox, Richard Griffiths, Zoe Tapper, Alice Eve
Certificate: TBC
Running Time: 110 mins
Country: UK / USA
Year: 2004
 

© Catriona Paul