Priya Parmar - Exit the Actress

Touchstone
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Priya Parmar

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Touchstone trade paperback edition February 2011

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Designed by Renata Di Biase

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parmar, Priya.

Exit the actress / by Priya Parmar. p. cm.

1. Gwyn, Nell, 16501687Fiction. 2. Charles II, King of England, 16301685Fiction. 3. MistressesGreat BritainFiction 4. ActressesGreat BritainFiction. 5. Great BritainKings and rulersParamoursFiction. I. Title.

PS3616. A757 E95 2011

813.6dc22

2009048703

ISBN 978-1-4391-7117-2
ISBN 978-1-4391-7118-9 (ebook)

for my mother and father
from nora who left for plumbeans house
to see the moon with you

Exit the Actress

By Most Particular Desire

T HEATRE R OYAL, C OVENT G ARDEN

Audiences Brilliant and Overflowing

Are Invited to Attend the Premiere of

E XIT THE A CTRESS

This Present Wednesday, May 1, 1662

will be repeated tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday next

P RESENTED BY M R. T HOMAS K ILLIGREW,

L EASEE AND R OYAL P ATENT HOLDER

With: the cast as listed below

Gwyn Family

Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn (Ellen/Nell/Nelly) an orange girl turned actress at the Kings Theatre Mrs. Rose Cassels (ne Gwyn) Ellens older sister Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn (Nora) Ellen and Roses mother; a serving woman at the Rose Tavern Captain Thomas Gwyn Noras husband; an officer in the Royal Army Dr. Edward Gwyn (Grandfather) Captain Gwyns father; a canon of Christ Church, Oxford Mrs. Margaret Gwyn (Great-Aunt Margaret) Dr. Gwyns sister; living in Oxford

Theatre

Mr. Theophilus Bird (Theo) Actor at the Kings Theatre Mr. Nicholas Burt (Nick) Actor at the Kings Theatre Mr. William Davenant Manager of the Dukes Theatre Mrs. Moll Davis Actress at the Dukes Theatre; mistress to King Charles II Mr. John Dryden Playwright; Poet Laureate Sir George Etheredge Wit; playwright Mr. Charles Hart Actor; major shareholder of the Kings Theatre Mrs. Margaret Hughes (Peg) Actress at the Kings Theatre and possibly the first woman to act upon the London stage Mr. Harry Killigrew Groom of the Bedchamber; Wit; son of Thomas Killigrew Mr. Thomas KilligrewPatent holder; manager and major shareholder of the Kings Theatre; former Groom of the Bedchamber Mrs. Elizabeth Knep (Lizzie) Actress; mistress of diarist Samuel Peyps Mr. Edward Kynaston (Teddy) Former cross-dressing star; Wit; well-loved actor Mr. John LacyActor , choreographer at the Kings Theatre Mrs. Rebecca Marshall (Becka) Actress at the Kings Theatre Mrs. Mary Megs (Orange Moll) Orange seller at the Kings Theatre; employs the orange girls

Royal Families of England and France

King Charles I**King of England; executed in 1649 Queen Henrietta MariaHis queen; daughter of King Henri IV of France; aunt to King Louis XIV of France King Charles IISon of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria and cousin to King Louis XIV of France; restored to the throne in 1660 Queen Catherine of BraganzaWife to King Charles II; former Portuguese Infanta King Louis XIVKing of France; first cousin to King Charles II James, Duke of Monmouth (Jemmy)Illegitimate first-born son of King Charles II and Lucy Walker Henry, Duke of Gloucester**Brother of King Charles II; died of the sweat in 1660 James, Duke of YorkYounger brother of King Charles II Anne, Duchess of YorkHis wife, daughter to the Earl of Clarendon Henriette-Anne (Minette)Youngest child of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria; the Madame of France; Duchesse dOrlans; married to Philippe, Duc dOrlans Philippe Charles dOrlansBrother of King Louis XIV; the Monsieur of France; Duc dOrlans, husband of Minette

Royal Court of England

Sir Henry BennetLord Arlington; Secretary of State Earl of ClarendonChancellor , Privy Councillor, father of Anne, Duchess of York Lady Barbara Palmer (ne Villiers)Countess of Castlemaine; Duchess of Cleveland; mistress to King Charles II, mother of their five children Lord Buckhurst (Charles Sackville)Earl of Dorset and Middlesex; Wit, poet Sir Charles SedleyWit , poet George VilliersDuke of Buckingham; Wit; Privy Councillor; childhood friend of King Charles II, cousin of Barbara Castlemaine Lord John Wilmot (Johnny)Earl of Rochester; Wit; poet

To Be Performed by:

T HE K INGS C OMPANY ( ESTABLISHED 1660)

PERFORMANCES BEGIN AT 3 OCLOCK DAILY

P ROLOGUE

S POKEN BY THE A CTRESS

M RS. N ELLY G WYN

upon her Farewell Performance

T HEATRE R OYAL, D RURY L ANE , L ONDON

Prompt Copy

T AKEN BY S TAGE M ANAGER B OOTH

March 1, 1670

Mrs. Nelly Gwyn: (Whispering in the wing, hands folded, eyes closed. ) Take a breath. Count three. Curtain up. Now.

( Curtain rises. Enter the Actress stage left. )

Mrs. Nelly Gwyn: Here I am. Back by request: for one night only, at his behest. ( Deep court curtsey to KING CHARLES II, seated in the royal box. ) What a lark and what a loss that such things are no longer fit for one such as me. How impossible is my unlikely luck: For here we are for one last night, to whirl like a dervish, and dance in delight, to look round and round at the faces bright, brightened still by candlelight. And then the curtain will fall and the thing will be done.

( Noisy sigh. ) So if it be now: Good-bye to you and good-bye to me. To what weve loved and what weve been. To the villains punished and the good set free and love scenes played under the apple tree. There. Done it. ( Skipping. ) So off I go into the big blue swirl, to become a star, and to glitter far from homebut I will be your star, marked with affection, stamped and sealed. From you and of you: polished up, and good as newwell better than new; I once was a merry but meanly fed scamp but now I eat for two . Oh, I had forgotten how free this is. It has been many months since. well, you all know what I have been doing since. ( Laughter. ) And now I have a different life. I am to be an unmarried mother and devoted wife. So far a life well lived, Id say. Turning left and left into unexpectedness Ive flown through and through. Down the corridor, up the stair, over the road that leads nowhere, with candied daisies in my hair. And what did I find? A sugar-spun life of fruit and fancy shot straight through with gold. How extraordinary.

But at what cost? you ask. Ill show you. Here, over your shoulder: look closely. Look again: in the dark, there, do you see? The velvet, the hush, the eyes on me? Quiet. Back away. Disappear. It is a delicate alchemy balanced on a pin, gifted with luck, defined by illusion, brittle with fragility, but so beautiful.

Ah, you patrons and saints of the theatre. in the world at the edge of the world, where the king comes down from his mountain top to love the orange girl. Where reason and right run rampant and no one ever grows old. Where women are pirates and princes and wildflowers grow in the soul. The magical door will close behind me and then? Who will I be? But oh, I can live without the talk! The scandal, the chatter, the news today, and who went rolling in the hay. The who did what to whom and why? And how and when and by and bythe time is goneand it is not life after all, this talk .

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