This Auckland Theatre Company production of a 21st century Restoration comedy is a triumph of superb acting, design and wit.
UK playwright Jessica Swale uses the story of Nell Gwynn - an early actress turned royal mistress - to muse on the position of women and theatre itself (an escape from "wretched, drivel-filled lives").
Colin McColl's direction brings out much of the script's innate humour. Actors are "athletes of the imagination", intones delightful scene-stealer Byron Coll as pompous thespian Edward.
Hera Dunleavy's wardrobe mistress, unimpressed, squirts him with her spray bottle as if he were a sportsman or maybe she's just pouring on the cold water.
Featuring in almost every scene, Claire Chitham has the stamina, presence and cute-cheeky face to make for a believable bright-spark Nell. And it's lovely to see a large number of other familiar faces onstage - Mark Hadlow, Tim Balme, Alison Bruce, Andrew Grainger, Roy Ward as well as Coll and Dunleavy - and to relax in their collective excellence.
