neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Stage Beauty
	Richard Eyre Claire Danes, Billy Crudup, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin, Rupert Everett, Zoe Tapper, Hugh Bonneville, Edward Fox 2004		During Shakespeare's time, actresses were anathema, and on-stage cross-dressing — men playing women's roles — was the order of the day. "Stage Beauty" has more than its share of blatant only-in-the-movies moments and an uncommonly silly performance by Rupert Everett as King Charles II, but it's mostly a lively, watchable, well-acted drama about Ned Kynaston, the legendary last of the great male "actresses" in England. Kynaston, played with relish and jaded charm by Billy Crudup ("Almost Famous"), is the toast of London for his interpretations of Desdemona and other female leads. He's a glamorous idol, irresistible to women and men alike. But the appearances of his adoring dresser Maria (former ingénue Claire Danes in the most womanly turn of her career) as various females in illicit, lionized performances of the Bard's plays lead to a royal ban against men in women's parts. The ban forces the distraught Kynaston to try and learn how to play men on stage, even though his theatrical gestures were honed to imitate the opposite sex. His strained relationship with Maria grows more complex and passionate. If this sounds like "Shakespeare in Love" in reverse drag, it's not an accident. Alas and alack, "Stage Beauty" is not as great a love story as its Oscar-honored predecessor. With Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin and Hugh Bonneville.