The Divine Mrs S
British theatre loves a backstage drama: in the last month alone we’ve said hello to Ivo van Hove’s divisive ‘Opening Night’ and waved goodbye to Jack Thorne’s ‘The Motive and the Cue’, both set behind the scenes of Broadway plays. Now here comes April de Angelis’s new comedy ‘The Divine Mrs S’, which goes behind the curtain of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, circa 1800. Here, De Angelis trains her lens on Sarah Siddons (Rachael Stirling), the actor known as the Queen of Drury Lane and something of an archetype for the modern celebrity. But though she was probably the greatest female actor of her day, there is still no contemporary biography of her. ‘The Divine Mrs S’ paints a picture of what Siddons’s world might have looked like – performing on stage every evening, adored by critics and fans. But the brilliance in De Angelis’s script comes in balancing Siddons’s influence with her impotence. Despite being a ticket-selling machine, she is shown as having little to no agency offstage. Her life is ruled by her brother Kemble (Dominic Rowan) – the manager of Drury Lane – and her husband, who spends his days off with a mistress. Together, they sign her contracts, decide what roles she plays and keep control of her finances. It is very meta: Siddons’s inner frustrations and wishes are said aloud in the form of stage directions that she reads to the audience. The play looks inwards on the stage profession and the construction of theatre: ‘the best way to survive in this business is
