Nell Gwynn is the story of a remarkable woman’s life but it is also a commentary on how little we really know about her. Or, for that matter, about the many other intelligent, complex women in our collective past remembered only as reductive pen portraits in our history books and theatres.
Nell’s entire existence is frequently framed around her relationships to men: a whore-turned-actress who became Charles II’s mistress. Here, she is depicted engagingly by Rose Shalloo as headstrong, witty, vulnerable and fierce. Nell is herself frustrated by shallowness with which women’s stories are told in her 17th century world.
“Just imagine, a real woman with hopes and aspirations”, she remarks, pleading for some depth to her part, and conflicted by her precarious social elevation and the strain it places on her relationships with the most important females in her life. That is to say, she is depicted as a flesh-and-blood human, giving three dimensions to a historical caricature. That Jessica Swale’s script manages this without lecturing, and while maintaining the slightly anarchic edge that is perfect for outdoor in-the-round theatre, is a real achievement.
Photo credit: Mark McNulty
But there are moments in which the social commentary becomes a little more heavy-handed. We would have got the contemporary reference behind King Charles’ declamation about the importance of supporting the arts – “What’s the point of a country if it is sapped of all joy?” – without the addendum “down with austerity”, for example. Yet at no point does the dialogue tip into hectoring. How could it, amid live music, a healthy dose of bawdiness (the show is 14+) and quite so much discussion of laxative-laced marzipan tarts and “linen tits”? The latter were referred to fondly by restoration-era actor Edward Kynaston, who laments the demise of his niche portraying women on stage thanks to the arrival of pesky actual women.
Played by Stanton Wright, who channels the goofy energy of a young Adam Buxton, Kynaston and his fellow company members are by turns patronising, protective and proud of Nell, their new and somewhat confounding star. They don’t quite know how to handle this charismatic and unpredictable presence – other than suggesting awkwardly that she gets her (real) tits out to play Lady Godiva in the interests of a packed house – and nor does Charles (Guy Woolf). Instead, the male characters, and the other women, orbit around the star. In this telling, Nell is centre stage in her own story.
Main image: credit Mark McNulty
Nell Gwynn is at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre until September 6, 2026. For more information, click here.
