Sophie Cox

Julie Wunsch

History of Theatre 2

March, 11, 2023

My topic is the changing role of men in theatre, specifically looking at Kynaston.

Kynaston was one of the last restoration “boy players” whose most famous role was Desdemona

in “Othello”, which is depicted in the movie. He is quoted as “the prettiest girl and the most

handsome man”, which is also seen in the movie, as in the beginning, he is very well liked for his

Desdemona performance, with many fans cheering him on. The quote by Charles II, “A

performance was delayed because the Queen, (played by Kynaston), was still shaving” is also in

the movie.

Prior to 1660 it was illegal for women to perform on stage, therefore, men like Kynaston

had to play the female roles. Then, King Charles II declared it was no longer illegal, and women

could now perform in the roles men once played for them. Men like Kynaston continued to play

female roles until the public saw the performance of “a real woman” and decided it was no

longer encouraged for a man to play a female role as, “women did it better”. This was a big shift

in Kynaston’s career, as he thrived in the female roles. However, different from the movie, he

COULD play male roles if he chose to. In the movie, it is shown that he is physically unable to

because he is so used to playing the female roles, that he doesn’t know how to play a man. He

also states that “there is no beauty in a man”, and that, “everything a woman does is beautiful,

even death”. Then, Maria Hughes, the woman who took over the role of Desdemona, got angry

at him for this. She retaliated with, “women are supposed to fight, they are not always beautiful,

women fight!”, which caused the death scene to change dramatically once she stepped into the
role. With a man playing a woman, the death was beautiful, with a woman playing a woman, she

fought for her life, giving a chilling performance. Even I watching it, thought that Maria actually

died on stage, so then when she woke up, I was shocked, just as much as the audience.

I feel as though the switch from playing female roles to not being able to anymore was

dramatized for the movie. The movie did not show that Kynaston could play male roles as well,

as has done so, but made it impossible for him to do so until the very end. However, for the sake

of the movie, I thought his breakdown, and the scene where he was auditioning and kept

reverting back to his “female voice” was a beautiful scene, and was really well done. In real life,

Kynaston was trained to only play the female roles, but was capable of playing the male roles if

he had to. According to the power point, he was well known for his role as Henry IV.

I really did enjoy the movie, and thought some of the scenes were really beautiful, for the

sake of the movie, I agree with making the shift in Kynaston’s career way more dramatic than it

was in real life.