December 08, 2025

Britain's First Actresses

12 minutes

A woman played a female role on the London stage for the very first time on December 8th, 1660, as Desdemona in a revival of Shakepeare’s Othello. The actress was probably Margaret Hughes - though nobody bothered to record this at the time, so we can’t be sure.

After the 1660 restoration of King Charles II, theatres opened their doors for the first time after 16 years of Puritan suppression. Charles, who had been exiled in France, admired continental theatre, where women had already been performing for over a century, and so England’s actresses were finally permitted to follow suit.

Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the stories of those pioneering performers who combatted sexism and sexual harassment to have their time in the limelight; consider the fate of the ‘pretty boys in petticoats’ once real women were allowed on stage; and, once again, marvel at Samuel Pepys’s inability to keep his sexual urges out of his diaries…

Further Reading:

• ’Who was the first Shakespearean actress?’ (British Library, 2016):

https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/05/who-was-the-first-shakespearean-actress.html

• ’The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660-1700 - By Elizabeth Howe’ (Cambridge University Press, 1992):

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_First_English_Actresses/gPC5RvL7O_8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=elizabeth+howe+women+on+stage&printsec=frontcover

• ‘April de Angelis Interview | The first women on stage’ (Whats On Stage, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvaJIzHj6zY

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart