Compleat Female Stage Beauty Movie Cast, Plot and Everything to Know

Plot

What's the story about?

Plot

It's the 1660s, and Edward 'Ned' Kynaston is England's most celebrated leading lady. Women are forbidden to appear on stage and Ned profits, using his beauty and skill to make the great female roles his own. But Charles II is tired of seeing the same old performers in the same old tragedies. Since no one will take him up on his suggestion to improve 'Othello' with a couple of good jokes, he decides to liven the royal palate by allowing real women to tread the boards. In a slightly less progressive spirit, he rules that men may no longer play women's parts. This is good news for the monarch's mistress, the saucy, stage-struck Nell Gwyn. It is also good news for Maria, Kynaston's lovelorn young dresser who has been secretly performing at the Cockpit Theatre in lavish costumes borrowed from her employer. It is very bad news for Ned who plummets from his exalted position as one of London's most desirable females to become a virtual nobody, virtually overnight. Cast out of the spotlight, Ned seems headed for the end of the pier until Maria, now a rising star, takes it upon herself to make a man of him again.

Drama

Top Cast

The lead cast starring in Compleat Female Stage Beauty.

• 
  Billy Crudup

  The Good Shepherd, Jay Kelly

• C
  Claire Danes

  It's All About Love, The Family Stone

• 
  Rupert Everett

  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Shrek 2 (re-release)

• T
  Tom Wilkinson

  The Choice, Snowden

• B
  Ben Chaplin

  September 5, The Dig

• H
  Hugh Bonneville

  Paddington in Peru, Downton Abbey 3

• R
  Richard Griffiths

  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hugo

• E
  Edward Fox

  The Happy Prince, Lassie

• C
  Clare Higgins

  A Fantastic Fear of Everything, The Convent

• F
  Fenella Woolgar

  Preschool, Bright Young Things

• 
  Alice Eve

  Crossing Over, Take Cover

• Z
  Zoe Tapper

  The Good Traitor, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

Crew Behind the Film

The Compleat Female Stage Beauty behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

The film's director Richard Eyre last directed The Children Act and The Met: Manon Lescaut.

Director

Richard Eyre

Screenwriters

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Production Details

What we know about the Compleat Female Stage Beauty movie production.

Production Updates for Compleat Female Stage Beauty

Dec 2004

Completed

Changed Compleat Female Stage Beauty movie production status. The movie is ready for release.

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Additional Information

All Trailers

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