WHAT do we know of of Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn?

Born February 2 1650, died November 14 1687. Mother ruined on gin. Occupation: comic actress, prostitute. Bosomy Royal whore/ long-time mistress of King Charles II, bearing him two sons. Folk heroine of Restoration England. Favourite fruit: oranges.

Myth would have it that her rags-to-royalty story echoed the Cinderella fairytale. However, "pretty, witty Nell", as diarist Samuel Pepys called her, is not in a pretty place at the outset of a new Steve Trafford play for Ensemble Theatre and York Theatre Royal that marks the 350th anniversary of Nell's first appearance on the English stage.

The year is 1685, and not an orange is in sight. Indeed, the world is turning sour for Nell (Elizabeth Mansfield); the king lies ill, dying to be precise, his bedchamber out of her reach, and so she must invent a ruse to gain access one last time in order that he might bestow the title of Countess of Greenwich on her. Only this way can she secure her position and income after his death.

This would be one form of "restoration" in the play's title, but it also refers to the Restoration comedy style that Trafford mirrors and to 'restoring a portrait of Nell, "bringing to life all the hidden depth and colour of this extraordinary woman", as the playwright puts it.

The play is an invention, he says, but one laced with historically accurate fact. The "invention" is the second character, Margery (Angela Curran), a northerner rescued from the London streets by Nell, who was wont to such actions. The two women are polar opposites in circumstance as this time, but Nell came from the gutter and both survive on wit and ingenuity., faced by a patriarchal world where women do not prosper without patronage.

Margery is Nell's assistant, sounding board, loose tongued and blunt, with a secret that will not remain that by the play's end. Nell is gripped by uncertainty over her future, no longer the brightest star of the Restoration stage, but still determined and feisty. Elizabeth Mansfield has made a fine career of playing troubled, brittle talented performers, from Edith Piaf to music-hall star to Nell, and once more she is a compelling figure on stage, always with the heart worn on the sleeve.

If you love Henry Purcell's songs of the period, then you will delight in Mansfield's singing and Baroque guitar playing. If not, you may feel there are too many songs, slowing down the piece, but they serve the role of capturing her mood in each one.

Curran's Margery is an amusing foil, with a sting in the tale, and she and Mansfield make great play of breaking down theatre's fourth wall to address the Studio audience directly, This also explains the modern silver chairs and guitar stand: deliberate decisions by director Damian Cruden and designer Richard Aylwin to link the play with today, and extension, the role of women today. Bluntly, it seemed an unnecessary step; the dialogue would have done that anyway.

Nevertheless Nell Gwyn is very much restored.

 

The Restoration Of Nell Gwyn, Ensemble Theatre/York Theatre Royal, at York Theatre Royal Studio until October 25, and on tour until November 29. 01904 623568