It's the 1660s and actor Ned Kynaston (Crudup) is the toast of London's stages and salons for his portrayal of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello.

As part of the earlier Cromwellian purge, women are forbidden to appear on stage so their roles must be taken by men - so Ned is Des.

Watched from the wings by his loyal dresser Maria (Danes), little does he suspect that she's sneaking off to - horror of horrors - play the role in secret in a tavern backroom.

However, change is afoot when Charles II (Everett) - keen to see his mistress Nell Gwyn tread the boards - reverses the law, banning cross-dressing actors.

Ned's glittering career plummets into freefall - his name's no longer in lights and his lover and patron - the Duke of Buckingham (Chaplin) doesn't return his (curtain) calls.

On the other hand, Maria seizes her chance to fill the role... but her feelings for Ned will not make for a smooth opening night.

With players of the calibre of Everett, Tom Wilkinson (as Ned's theatre boss) and Richard Griffiths (as a grotesque dandy), this could easily have slumped into back-slapping luvvie-dom.

However, each plays to his strengths; Everett a self-mocking joy as the idiot king (shades of Hugh Laurie's Prince Regent in Blackadder) and Griffiths is delightfully repugnant as the powdered prat.

Crudup's eyelash fluttering, gender-bender alter-ego is a treat with both an impressive command of the coy sidelong glance and the elegant shimmy.

The script is a rich seam of waspish digs at bimbo culture and megalomaniac impressarios and its celebration of language raises it a notch above your usual rom-com.

A few minutes could have been shaved off here and there, but overwhelmingly it's a terrific glimpse into an age when men were men... and women as well.

Shakespeare in Love? Shakespeare in Drag more like.

Tim Evans