Roaring with Moll Cutpurse: A Staged Reading

July 12-14 2024, The Sterling Stage Austin

 

​For one weekend only, we presented a costumed and staged reading for Roaring with Moll Cutpurse July 12-14. Visitors were the first to see this wonderful new performance space, The Sterling Stage, transformed into an Elizabethan theatre and tavern for this rowdy, bawdy, swashbuckling, Shakespearean romp.

 

Written by Kathleen Fletcher and Directed by Trace Turner, Roaring explores the life of Mary Frith, a.k.a. Moll Cutpurse, a fascinating late Elizabethan performer and actor who defied gender norms and was immortalized in The Roaring Girl by Shakespearean contemporaries. Known for being one of the first “women” on the Elizabethan stage, they were famous for their male attire, comic and musical showmanship, seedy shenanigans, and bold defiance of societal norms. This play combines plot elements from contemporary plays, historical research about Moll's life, contemporary court records, and imagination to paint a beautiful, fun, and meaningful portrait of an extraordinary individual.