The appearance of women on the stage got under way in earnest when Tom Killigrew, one of the King's best friends produced "Othello" on 8 December 1660. Women had already appeared in plays on the Continent. In England no self respecting young woman would have thought of a career in acting - and so al the casting was done in brothels! The subject-matter of plays being performed was such that whores fitted naturally into the female roles. Theatre thrived on love intrigues, rape, seduction, and the like. I has been said that Restoration theatre"no only fostered lewdness by depicting it in glowing and attractive colours, but it actors spread abroad the corruption it was their business to delineate" - "Their personal character corresponded, in too many instances, with the parts which the performed, and they re-enacted in private the debaucheries which they presented on the stage."