I've seen Billy Crudup on stage, and he can be very good. I'd say that here he's brilliant.<br /><br />I seem to have missed this when it played in New York, and I don't know how. One might quibble over some of the....uh....eccentricities, but over all this is quite amazing.<br /><br />There was a recent Chinese film about a boy who plays women on stage, and his lover. It covered a lot of the growing up part of how a boy gets to play a woman on stage. This neatly skips that part and deals in a truly fascinating way with the aftermath.<br /><br />Claire Danes is a revelation. She makes you completely believe in what you're seeing. Her reaction to her environment and the fact that she is also hiding who she really is give her a realistic ability to understand the man that Crudup plays.<br /><br />Billy Crudup delivers a truly indelible performance as a man with the 'wrong' kind of up bringing. A pretty boy who's identified as a potential player of women's roles, his entire education is built around learning the art of being a woman. He learns the part well enough to perform the role both on and off the stage, and becomes very close to a member of the King's staff.<br /><br />I'm surprised this didn't get some academy buzz, but with the gay subplot, that might be understood. Richard Griffiths is a particularly smarmy but amazingly understanding Lord of the Manor. The cast gives a great rendition of life in the 1600's. They even step in what's found in the street from time to time for some good verisimilitude.<br /><br />The historical event that provides the focus for this story is England's King Charles ruling that women would replace men in all women's roles on the stages of England. Nell Gwynn clearly had some influence on this event. Given the times in which the events occurred and the nature of the participants, Hogarths depictions of the world may well have given some impetus to the depiction of events as they are portrayed here.<br /><br />While parts of this are a rollicking good time, there are some dramatic moments that are quite overpowering, scary even. Portrayed as the reality of events, the personal behaviors are entirely believable. I couldn't find a sour note in the entire story.