As it will be Christmas this month, we are approaching the Pantomime season. Looking around the theatres, I see La Voix playing a dame in Jack and the Beanstalk, but the Dame of all Pantomime Dames, Christopher Biggins, is making a guest appearance as King Richard instead of a dame in a production of Robin Hood.
But did you know….. until 1660, all women’s parts on the English stage were played by men. Margaret Hughes, the mistress of Prince Rupert (cousin of Charles II) made her stage debut as Desdemona in Othello today 8th December 1660, which certainly came as a shock to the London audiences!
However, King Charles II was certainly ahead of the times – he then issued a licence making it official in England: “Whereas women’s parts in plays have hitherto been acted by men in the habits of women… we do permit and grant leave for the time to come that all women’s parts be acted by women.”
But did you know….. until 1660, all women’s parts on the English stage were played by men. Margaret Hughes, the mistress of Prince Rupert (cousin of Charles II) made her stage debut as Desdemona in Othello today 8th December 1660, which certainly came as a shock to the London audiences!
However, King Charles II was certainly ahead of the times – he then issued a licence making it official in England: “Whereas women’s parts in plays have hitherto been acted by men in the habits of women… we do permit and grant leave for the time to come that all women’s parts be acted by women.”