Stage Beauty

In Restoration London men play the women's parts and Ned Kynaston is the most famous of them; when he plays Desdemona the house is full. Maria, who dresses him, has been secretly learning the roles and one night goes on as a woman. When the king permits women on stage and forbids men from playing women, Kynaston is out of a profession overnight. Richard Eyre adapted Jeffrey Hatcher's play. The real question is not talent: Kynaston learned womanhood as a technique, and with the technique taken away he does not know what is left of him. Billy Crudup and Claire Danes lead. Who it is for: viewers who like theatre history and drama about gender as performance. Who it is not for: anyone looking for fidelity to the historical record of the period.