Aphra Behn's scandalous play, The Amorous Prince, or The Curious Husbandwill be mounted again, more than 350 years since it was first performed, in 1671.
(Photo : Yale Center for British Art, Public Domain) Portrait of Aphra Behn by Peter LelyAphra Behn was one of the first English women to make a living by writing. Among her most famous works are Oroonoko, and the play, The Rover. Her first play, The Forc'd Marriage, was a commentary on arranged marriages, and ran with great success for six nights after its premiere. Her second, The Amorous Prince, or The Curious Husband, also deals with that theme, along with men's infidelity: Frederik, the prince in the title, believes he can bed any woman, while Antonio, the curious husband, asks a friend to test his wife's faithfulness. The play caused a great scandal-high praise for any writer who lived under the reign of Charles II, and who mingled with the likes of the libertine, John Wilmot, Lord Rochester.
On July 2 to 4, the Canterbury Players will mount the play for the first time since its premiere. Theater taboos have since relaxed, although staging it is still a challenge "because there's nothing really to go from," said director Natalie Cox.
The production is part of a wider project by Canterbury Christ Church University to explore the life and works of Aphra Behn. Alongside the play, it will also host a series of lectures on Behn's espionage letters, her early life in Kent, and the making of a bronze statue of her that will be erected in Canterbury High Street. Using her own photographs, sculptor Christine Charlesworth will detail the creation of her work, from conception to waxing the finished statue.
