Event

Nell Gwyn: An Epilogue

Seventeenth century actress Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn, or 'pretty, witty Nell' according to the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, was one of the first women to make their name on stage.

Said to have started life as the daughter of a debtor and a prostitute, Nell found employment as an orange girl at London's Drury Lane Theatre before seizing the chance to become an actress at the age of fourteen.

The play sees 19-year-old Nell at a point where she is celebrated for her comic roles and her dancing, dressed in boys' breeches to provide a rare sight of the shapely female leg.

However, the theatre management, in particular her former lover, Charles Hart, has not cast her in a comedy for some time, persisting instead in giving her tragic roles parts for which she is ill-suited.

As a mistress of King Charles II, she has much to lose if she was to fall out of favour.

An Epilogue, performed by Lucy Formby as Nell, is as much about the role of a woman in society as it is about Nell's story.

Writer and co-producer Laura Ingram was inspired by a time spent working at the Drury Lane theatre herself. Produced in partnership with Black Dingo Productions and directed by Jen McGregor of Tightlaced Theatre, Nell Gwyn: An Epilogue is the first play by Laura's Orange Girl Productions, a new theatre company based in Edinburgh.