By Steve Trafford

      London premiere at Park Theatre, London on 27 Jan 2016

       The Restoration of Nell Gwyn

      BY STEVE TRAFFORD

      WITH SONGS BY HENRY PURCELL

       CAST

      Nell Gwyn | Elizabeth Mansfield

      Margery | Angela Curran

      Company Stage Manager | Amy Bending

       CREATIVE TEAM

      Director | Damian Cruden

      Designer | Richard Aylwin

      Lighting Designer | Nao Nagai

      Assistant director | Geoffrey Laurence Williams

      Dance choreography | T.C. Howard

      Nell and Margery’s costumes supplied by Cosprop Ltd

      Nell’s periwig supplied by Wig Specialities Ltd.

      Arrangements for baroque guitar by Max Brittain

      Musical interlude ‘I’ll sail upon the dog star’ arranged

      and played by Leslie Pearson

      Front cover image design – Boom Ents

      www.BoomEnts.com

      Photography by Anthony Robling

       THE SONGS

       Act One

      ‘Fairest Isle’

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by John Dryden

      ‘Music for a While’ (a fragment)

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by John Dryden

      ‘Sweeter than Roses’

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by Richard Norton

      ‘I Attempt from Love’s Sickness’

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by John Dryden and Robert Howard

       Act Two

      ‘Pursue thy Conquest, Love’ (a fragment)

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by Nahum Tate

      ‘I’ll Sail upon the Dog-star’

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by Thomas Durfey

       Act Three

      ‘The Fatal Hour’ (a fragment)

      Music by Henry Purcell, words anonymous

      ‘Dido’s Lament’

      Music by Henry Purcell, words by Nahum Tate

       Cast

      Angela Curran (Margery) Angela has worked extensively in film, television, theatre and radio. She recently appeared in The Job Lot for ITV playing Janette. Forthcoming TV appearances include Houdini and Doyle and Rovers for Sky TV. Other television credits include: Edge of Heaven, Mr Sloane, The Bletchley Circle, This is Jinsy, Doc Martin, Casualty, Holby City, Eric and Ernie, Emmerdale, Pickles, Foyle’s War, Heartbeat, Poirot, Tipping the Velvet, Dinner Ladies, Peak Practice, Vanity Fair, Pat & Margaret and The Kiss of Death. Film Credits include: Calendar Girls, The Iron Lady, Death at a Funeral, Mike Bassett England Manager, Nicholas Nickleby, The Danish Girl and several Mike Leigh films, including Vera Drake, Naked, Topsy-Turvy, Secrets and Lies, and Mr Turner. She has worked in many theatres including: Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Leeds Playhouse, Arts Theatre Cambridge, Theatre Royal Drury Lane. She has written a one woman show, Happy Talk, which she has performed at several venues including the Hampstead Theatre and Regent’s Park Theatre.

      Elizabeth Mansfield (Nell Gwyn) Elizabeth has been working in theatre, radio, TV and film since the 1970’s. She trained at the Elmhurst Ballet School, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later in opera at the City of Leeds College of Music. She has performed many leading roles in UK regional theatres and London’s West End, in plays, music theatre and musicals, winning an Olivier Award nomination for ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ and ‘Best Actress’ in the London Theatre Awards, for her performance in Marie – the Story of Marie Lloyd, at the Fortune Theatre. She has worked extensively in radio, and was nominated ‘Best Actress’ in the Sony Radio Awards, whilst a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company. She has worked in television and film, appearing in popular TV series such as Coronation Street and The Bill. From 2001, when she founded Ensemble with Steve Trafford, she has devoted her time to producing, performing and writing for the company. Elizabeth is a frequent visiting professor at the Music School, University of Colorado (Boulder), USA.

       Creative Team

      Damian Cruden (Director) Damian has been Artistic Director of York Theatre Royal for the past 16 years. He trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama between 1982 and 1986. He has directed many productions, including: In Fog and Falling Snow, The Restoration of Nell Gwyn, Blithe Spirit, The Legend of King Arthur, The Guinea Pig Club, The York Mystery Plays 2012, Laurel and Hardy, 40 Years On, Peter Pan, My Family and Other Animals, The Railway Children, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Wind in the Willows, Up the Duff, The Homecoming, The White Crow (Eichmann in Jerusalem); Death of a Salesman, Patient No.1, Enjoy, Bouncers 2007 Remix, The Dumb Waiter, The Hare and the Tortoise (in York and Japan); Pygmalion, Broken Glass, East Is East, Hay Fever, Macbeth, A Cloud in Trousers, Brassed Off, Caitlin, A Taste of Honey, Habeas Corpus, Up‘n’Under, Frankenstein, Noises Off, Little Shop of Horrors, Othello, Closer, The Turn of the Screw, Bedevilled, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kafka’s Dick, Man of the Moment, Having a Ball, Romeo and Juliet, Getting On, The Three Musketeers, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, All My Sons, Piaf, Dead Funny, Educating Rita, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Neville’s Island, Multiplex, Abandonment and Private Lives. He has co-directed the last 16 York Theatre Royal pantomimes with Berwick Kaler. Before York, Damian worked for various regional theatres as a freelance director. He was Associate Director for Hull Truck in the early ’90s and prior to that Co-artistic Director of the Liverpool Everyman Youth Theatre. He worked for the Tron and TAG in Scotland and was a tutor for the Scottish Youth Theatre.

      Nao Nagai (Lighting Designer) Nao is a lighting designer, performance maker and educator from Japan based in London. She has collaborated with various performance makers and currently works as lighting tutor at Goldsmith’s College. She also sings and performs with Frank Chickens and is co-founder of the ‘Hey Ho Ha’ theatre company, with Yoko Nishimura. She works on projects across a whole range of genres. She is interested in creating performance work with a strong visual language that engages with interdisciplinary practices.

      Richard Aylwin (Designer) Richard Aylwin is an artist and designer, specialising in prepared space, printed and moving image. Much of his work has been associated with opera and new music. The companies Richard has worked for include: English National Opera, The Wrestling School, Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Scottish Opera, Opera Northern Ireland, Music Theatre Wales, Lyric Theatre London, Wexford Festival Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, Liverpool Philharmonic Society, Opera Vest (Norway), Contact Theatre Manchester, Welsh National Opera and Sadler’s Wells. Theatre and Opera productions include: The Tragedy of Carmen (Brooke), Mother Courage, La Cenerentola,