Nell Gwynn – Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester

Writer: Jessica Swale

Director: Bryony Shanahan

Having won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2016, Jessica Swale’s witty and raucous Nell Gwynn is long overdue a trip to the North West.

Having already sent audiences into raptures at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake and Prescot’s Shakespeare North, will this tri-company production sit well in Chester’s Grosvenor Park?

Short answer – very much so. Nell Gwynn makes a fantastic finale to Storyhouse in the Park’s 2026 season.

Naturally, as the title suggests, we follow the story of Nell Gwynn, famed for being the mistress of King Charles II – but Swale, who has previous form for writing about women making changes in key moments of feminist history, tells us a story about a woman who did so much more than ‘sell her oyster’ – if you don’t get the reference – watch the play and you will. The play is a history lesson in itself, and the beautiful thing about Grosvenor Park’s theatre-in-the-round setting is that the audience gets to feel part of the action.

Director Bryony Shanahan brings out the pace of the constant repartee and wit between characters: from the opening scene where Nell heckles a heckler, right to her closing epilogue. But the play isn’t all smutty jokes and witty retorts; it is a journey of love, learning,  challenges, conspiring, loss and self-discovery – and not just for Nell. Each character grows with the story, as Nell teaches them a little about who they are.

Performed by a talented company of nine, all actor-musicians, the ensemble are simply a joy to sit back and watch. Rose Shalloo’s Nell is as dry and coarse as you like, but beneath the wit is the depth of a woman who has truly suffered. Guy Woolf’s King Charles II is both foppish and flirtatious, but beneath the frivolity lies the great weight of the crown. His performance evokes Henry V’s “Upon the King” speech – “O hard condition!” – capturing the contrast between the public figure of the monarch and the burden carried by the man beneath it.

The King’s Company is equally strong. Jamie Ross’s playwright John Dryden bumbles beautifully as he searches for inspiration for his next play, while Adam Clifford plays both Thomas Killigrew (the company director) and Charles’ adviser Lord Arlington, contrasts a high-strung perfectionist with a long-suffering schemer. Sufia Manya brings wonderful deadpan humour to Nancy, the company seamstress, particularly when she is called upon to take to the stage herself. Stanton Wright is an audience favourite as Edward Kynaston, the diva-ish actor usurped from playing female roles now that women have been permitted to perform on the English stage. The company is completed by Burhan Kathawala as Ned Spiggett, the young actor taken under Nell’s wing; Celia Curwys-Finnigan as Rose, Nell’s sister, alongside Lady Castlemaine and Louise de Kéroualle; and Elliot Harper as the Kings Comapany leading man Charles Hart, as charming and flamboyant a Restoration actor as you could want.

Decked in costumes designed by Jess Curtis, performing compositions by Candida Caldicot, the company have you engaged from prologue to epilogue; with witty ditties and moving moments. Whether you have or haven’t yet caught a production this summer at Grosvenor Park Theatre, don’t let the season come to an end without catching Nell Gwynn.

Runs until 6th September 2026