Last year I saw the University of Northampton BA Actors perform Blue Stockings , an emotive and highly powerful play from Jessica Swale. I was that impressed by both the play and performances that a couple of days later I returned to see it again. Therefore when Nell Gwynn by that very same writer popped up on my Facebook status of a planned trip to see the play from a group of Masque Theatre folk, I conspired my way into a car to Bedford. Nell Gwynn is I have to say, from the outset, not as strong a play as Blue Stockings , it doesn't have the emotional impact and many of the characters do not get the expansion and depth as those of Stockings. However as that is such a stonker, it doesn't mean that this is poor play. It is actually a wonderfully entertaining take of Nell, one of the first female actors and more famous mistress of Charles II. For an amateur production also with such a large cast, it also benefits from remarkable high quality of performance across the boar...