Compleat Female Stage BeautyIn 1661 the most famous portrayer of female roles on the London stage was the performer “Kynaston”. Like every other player permitted by law to portray such roles, Kynaston was a man. Edward Kynaston is applauded on stage and off for his interpretations of Shakespeare’s tragic ladies, Ophelia and especially his Desdemona with it’s famous ‘death scene’. He’s the toast of the town and the very secret “mistress” of the powerful Duke of Buckingham. But when the unknown Margaret Hughes plays Desdemona at an illegal theatre, instead of stopping the show, the ever game King Charles II changes the law to allow women, to act and Kynaston’s world is turned upside down. He loses his cachet, his livelihood, his lover and his sense of self. Nell Gwynn, King Charles’ mistress, even Kynaston’s former dresser, Maria, become stars, his own light disappears until fate and his desire for revenge give him the chance to take the stage again.