As part of this year’s Canterbury Festival, The Aphra Behn Society of Canterbury presented The Masks of Aphra Behn.
An audience of around 150 people gathered in St Paul’s-without-the-Walls Church, Canterbury, the very church where Aphra’s parents were married, to enjoy this one-woman show, written and performed by Claire Louise Amias and using excerpts from Aphra’s letters, plays and poetry.
The audience is waiting; the evening’s performance of The Rover is about to begin. Then the author appears. Unfortunately, the play has been cancelled. But since we’re all here, she might as well tell us the story of her life, her spying mission in the Low Countries, her dealings with various troublesome men and her struggle to become a professional writer.
