Cross-dressing up nicely

British period pieces can usually rely on the sort of acting that will stun Americans, and Richard Eyre's slightly eccentric take on the 17th century is no exception, even though the styles vary from carefully costumed naturalism to bewigged fol-de-rol parody. Not very serious as a piece of history, but as a drama Stage Beauty gets quite sophisticated.

We are back in the days when acting was a male preserve and women were, by law, played by men. Othello is the play, with Billy Crudup as Ned Kynaston, England's most celebrated leading lady. He brings the house down as Desdemona, while Claire Danes's Maria, his adoring dresser, watches from the wings.

Anyone with half an eye or ear for Shakespeare will see that Ned is awful, despite the thunderous applause for his death scene. He is no worse than the production itself, an Othello put on by Tom Wilkinson as actor-manager, which would have dear Donald Wolfit spitting in his grave.

But such is the style of the day, and the device which allows the plot to go round effectively, as the dresser

finally gets to tell Ned that this is not how women behave.

She lectures him on his lack of conviction after Charles II (Rupert Everett), abetted by a squawking Nell Gwyn (Zoe Tapper), decrees that women should be allowed on the stage. And Maria ends up playing Desdemona with Ned persuaded to play Othello. Their death scene isn't exactly for purists, but Charles II loves it and Nell says "bugger!", which I took to be a sign of jealous approval.

There is more than a smidgin of acting that results in people calling actors camp luvvies (why are Charles and Nell so silly?), but the film also contains a performance from Crudup which might get him noticed more in low places, such as Hollywood. Danes is fresh and unstrained throughout, and as good as Gwyneth Paltrow's in Shakespeare in Love, with which this film is sure to be compared.

Stage Beauty is the weightier film - but by no means more entertaining - by dint of the relationship between the leads. Ned is what Alan Bennett once called Esau: "a hollow man", unable to make up his mind whether he is gay or straight, and no good at feeling anything. Nell goads him, and his Othello is the result.

The film is well-mounted and energetically directed by Eyre. It ought to be a mild hit and, in a year when few British films have managed that, we should be grateful.

Stage Beauty
Cert: cert15