In any high school theatre department it's only natural that a Shakespeare production comes up in the rotation once in awhile as part of the students' study of 17th century English theatre. Typically the Bard of Avon is the first -- and often only -- stop in that time period.  Comedy playwright and Shakespeare contemporary Ben Johnson comes in at a close second, and that's about it. This de facto cultural restriction has created the false impression in most modern minds that these were the only two playwrights of that era. 

In truth there were many playwrights, and at least one of them was a woman named Aphra Behn.  Her most famous work, a Restoration Comedy called The Rover is this semester's Upper School play.

 

"Behn was an interesting figure working during an interesting time," explained the show's director Catherine Clark who teaches IB Theatre in the BFS Upper School.  "In the 1660s in England the monarchy was restored after Oliver Cromwell's rule under the Commonwealth. He and other Puritans had outlawed theatre, music, and dancing, but when King Charles II was restored to the throne all of these arts returned with a vengeance.  Not only were theatres reopened during the Restoration but women were allowed to act onstage for the first time, and female playwrights emerged."  In addition to writing plays Behn was a novelist and a spy for Charles II.  Ironically he refused to pay her expenses and she was also sentenced to debtors prison for a time before turning to writing to earn a meager income.

 

What spurred Catherine to produce an Aphra Behn play now?  "I looked at the plays we had done over the last decade and found a real lack of female playwrights and playwrights of color.  I became really invested in breaking out of the 'dead white male' rut, and started looking around," she said.  "Choosing a play is a tricky process because you have to consider cast size, how difficult it would be to stage with our resources, appropriateness of content, and, now that we offer IB Theatre, what kinds of tie-ins to theatre history the piece offers."  The Rover fit the bill.

"Behn was appealing to me because she was a trailblazer at a time when no one was thinking about feminism or women's rights," said Catherine.  "She chose to work in a man's world and was very successful at it.  "Her plays are funny and well-written, and most importantly they have great female roles."

 

She concedes that this raucous comedy set during Carnival time in Naples "certainly does have it's bawdy elements," (carefully edited to make it age-appropriate, albeit modern urban teenagers), "but mixed in with the bawdy is an exploration of the rights of women to choose their own paths in life, to love whom they choose instead of whom their fathers and brothers choose for them. Bhen's women meet men on an equal playing field in love, flirtation, and money."

 

Senior Willa Rubin, a BFS stage veteran and current IB Theatre II student, plays Florinda.  "All the female characters are very strong," she said of this concupiscent comedy.  "In Florinda's subplot she was involved in a battle and became a sort of POW. A nobleman named Colonel Belvile saved her and they fell in love, but my brother doesn't like him and wants me to marry someone else.  Florinda is crafty. It's carnival, everyone's wearing a mask and she takes advantage of that." 

 

Willa explained the seriousness behind Behn's often risque humor.  "Florinda is the biggest victim in the play but she's also a bold, strong character. A message in the play is that women are victims in that society but that doesn't mean they shouldn't fight back." Willa graduates this May. She hasn't yet made a final decision about which college she'll attend but she plans to major in International Studies and Theatre.

 

Fellow senior and IB Theatre II student Becky Grenham plays Florinda's kid sister Hellena, who is the love interest of Don Pedro and Willmore, the latter being "the rover" of the play's title.  "She is soon going to become a nun," said Becky, "and the play takes place during the time between her schooling at the convent and before she takes Orders. She is determined, however, not to become a nun." 

 

Hellena instead sets out to lure Willmore into marrying her while tricking her way out of life of devoutness. "She knows exactly what she wants, and spends all her energy to persuade Willmore even if it means dressing up as a boy and visiting the house of another girl he's been seeing!"  

 

Becky does consider the play to be comedy at heart, "but there are certainly some more serious elements. The women in this play are smart and not content with simply accepting what they are handed. Some characters get exactly what they want in the end, but others don't. Many characters are left to face harsh reality." The seriousness aside, she still loves it for its humor.   "The script is so full of action and it's fast-paced," she said.  "Each scene builds off the last and adds another twist or turn. It's filled with subplots and misunderstandings and, of course, sword fights!"  

 

Becky has thus far been accepted to University of Michigan and University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  She will likely major in English but has carefully selected schools to apply for which have strong theatre programs.  "Wherever I go, I hope to pursue theatre in some form."