Exit the Actress (60 page)

Ellen herself left very little in the way of documentation. What we mostly have from her are enormous bills for dresses and shoes and a will that displays her extraordinary generosity. The
London Gazette
existed, but Ambrose’s column is fictional. Similarly, the playbills reflect the company at the time, but it is often difficult to guess who would have been cast in each role. The recipes are patterned after authentic dishes, and the tone of the
letters between Charles and Minette is inspired by existing correspondence. I tried to create their singularly easy relationship within a difficult, uneasy family. Some of the small details—such as the barge for Minette, the gift of sealing wax, and even Charles’s ending a letter by being called off to dance—are entirely accurate.

As a first-time novelist, what drew you to the genre of historical fiction? Does the historical context that your novel is placed in enhance your imaginative facilities or hinder them?

I have always loved reading historical fiction. I love reunderstanding an event or period through a fictional character. I am fascinated by the specifics of history: the small, everyday earmarks of a time that feel so foreign to us now.

It was wonderful to write inside a historical frame. It offered a way into the characters. I could easily imagine Ellen’s walk in her cumbersome skirts and contrast it with the lissome freedom she must have felt dancing in breeches. There are the rooted in the facts we know about her, and then there is all the fun, creative space in between. For instance, I know that Ellen ran off with Charles Sackville, ostensibly leaving the stage for good. Shortly after, she returned to the Theatre Royal and, according to Samuel Pepys, played parts that did not quite suit her. Why? It was hugely fun to construct a plot congruent with her fictional character that would explain such a series of events.

Are the recipes from the
Lady’s Household Companion
real? They are such a great touch and add a practical aspect to the lives of the seventeenth-century characters. Have you tried any of them yourself?

They are real, but I am a nightmare in the kitchen! My meringues were pancake flat and my macaroons tasted like salt. I tried making snow cream, but it turned out looking like runny whipped cream from a can. I am sure that someone more adept in the kitchen would fare much better than I!

I can guarantee your readers are dying to know if Ambrose Pink is a man or a woman and who he or she was. Was the character based on an actual gossip writer from the era, or was he an imaginative conceit?

Ambrose is entirely fictional, but all the gossip is based on real events of the day. There were writers chronicling the lives of celebrities such as Ellen, Lady Castlemaine, and Peg. Much like today, the public wanted to know all about their beauty routines, diet, and personal life.

I assumed Ambrose
was
an outside character, and it was only halfway through writing the novel that I realized he was someone I knew—Teddy. He is positioned to understand all the overlapping circles of her life: the court, the theatre, and London itself and he loves Ellen dearly. He was so much fun to write.

Did your past work as a dramaturge on Broadway and in the West End of London help in the research and writing of this novel? How do you think theatre culture has changed since the seventeenth century and what are some of the most striking similarities?

I loved being in the theatre. There is something exciting and electric when the cast is backstage and the audience is coming in. The air crackles and the actors are on the edge of a moment, and then the lights dim and they jump. It is thrilling. I think it would have been hard for me to understand the controlled, organized chaos that is a performance without that experience.

The theatre was a rough and rowdy place in the seventeenth century. It was a noisy dialogue between the audience and the actors, and it was not uncommon for a popular scene to be repeated three or four times at the audience’s request. This was an exciting era for theatre. Extensive stage machinery and set construction was becoming more common, and theatre took on an aspect of spectacle. Audiences came to expect a higher production value and were vocal if disappointed. That is the essential difference: there was no protective balm of politeness as there is now. It was an interactive and sometimes brutal experience.

Do you read historical fiction as well as write it? What are you reading right now? Are there any particular writers who have inspired or influenced your style?

My mother taught me how to write. She has always encouraged me to look at why a line works and to see the vertebrae of good writing wherever I find it, whether it is on a shampoo bottle or in a Jane Austen novel. I hear her voice in my head as I pare down a line or find the footstep of a phrase. Her constant question is “Do you need that word?” Usually when she asks that, I don’t!

In terms of literary influence I love the economy, heft, and precision of poetry. It is such a marvelous combination of tangential evocation and steely discipline. I love the way poetry stretches the capability of a word or punctuation mark. W. H. Auden, Czeslaw Milosz, Constantine Cavafy, and Pablo Neruda are some of my favorites.

Are you currently working on any other works of historical fiction? Will you continue to set your novels in the seventeenth century, or will you delve into a different era altogether?

I am currently working on my second historical novel, which takes place in London during the First World War. I hope to return to the seventeenth century someday, as I truly love it, but for now I am riding on omnibuses through leafy squares, summering in Sussex, and hoping this war will be over by Christmas.

1. The novel contains several wonderful little snippets from the
Lady’s Household Companion
. Try a few of them out with your book club. Perhaps the Remedy for the Sickened Body would be a good place to start:

Make up a pot of lemon posset. [Don’t worry; it’s a
hot milk-based drink … not as bad as it sounds.]

Thicken it with the yolks of six eggs.

Sweeten it with sugar and kindness.

Does it work? How much kindness did you put in? If you are feeling a little less adventurous, try the recipe for French Macaroons on page 65. Afterwards, relax by whipping together some of the Venetian Ceruse described on page 54 (but don’t use white lead!) and kicking your feet up. Remember not to smile or laugh after applying it, though, so as not to create any creases.

2. To get your book club into a seventeenth-century mood, read aloud some of the timeless poems by two prominent figures in the life of Ellen Gwyn: John Dryden and Aphra Behn. Poetryfoundation.org has a wonderful collection of poems from both writers as well as excellent biographies and further reading suggestions. For Dryden, try reading one of his shorter light poems such as “Marriage a-la Mode,” or “You charm’d me not with that fair face.” As an introduction to Behn, dip into a poem called “The Willing Mistress.” Could she have drawn any inspiration from Ellen?

3. Did you know that the British monarchy has its own website? There are profiles going all the way back to the first official king of England, Athelstan, who died in 939. This site has a great profile of Charles II as well as of his father, Charles I; and it features a collection of royal
portraits to show you what they looked like. Check it out at
www.royal.gov.uk
. Find out if Charles was really as reckless with his money as he seems in the novel. Did he ever officially convert to Catholicism as he promised his cousin Louis XIV of France? As you delve into the history of the seventeenth-century monarchs, you will begin to recognize a lot of names from the novel!

*
a title indicating respect rather than marital status

**
deceased as of 1662

***
denotes fictional character