SHE scandalised the population in the 1600s, and now Nell Gwyn is taking to the stage at the Octagon.

Actress Caroline Harding wrote and performs the one-woman show, Pretty Witty Nell, which is named after a description of Gwyn by the famed diarist and social commentator of the day, Samuel Pepys.

“It’s about Nell, who was the most popular mistress of King Charles II,” says Caroline.

“She famously was an orange wench and she ended up on stage from there and became one of the most vibrant theatre figures and popular comedians of her day.”

Caroline says that the newly loosened morals of the time inspired her to write the show, which she describes as “historical stand up.”

“I’ve always loved that era because it was when women were first allowed on stage — it was very free and open,” she says.

“Charles II was a hugely popular monarch and Puritanism went out of the window so it was all very joyous and heady and debauched.

"So it gives me a lot of material to work with.

“I think she probably would be like a Vivienne Westwood character today, slightly barking but really vibrant and literate and fun, a bit of an icon.”

Caroline describes herself as an “Octagon veteran,” having appeared previously at the Octagon in Death Of A Salesman, and in Frankie And Johnny In The Claire De Lune with husband Chris Gascoyne who plays Peter Barlow in Coronation Street.

“I’ve never done a one-woman show before but I fancied a challenge, so I researched it for quite a while and then wrote it,” says Caroline.

“As time’s gone on it’s got much easier because I know how it works and I can gauge the audience.

“Plus when it’s just you on stage you can be free to do whatever you want really because you don’t have someone else there to worry about.

"You can just go with whatever the audience gives you back, it’s a rollercoaster comedy.”

One of the earliest English actresses to be recognised for her talent, Nell also gave birth to two sons with King Charles and was known for her sharp wit.

“She was very good at bantering,” says Caroline.

“When she first went to sell oranges at the theatre people used to banter back and forth with her, and sometimes the play was actually stopped because she was too busy shouting and reparting with people in the audience.

“She could command an audience even though she wasn’t an actress, she just had that vibrancy about her that made people warm to her.”

And more than four centuries after her death at the age of 37, it seems that Nell is still capturing the nation’s hearts.

“The response has been great,” says Caroline.

“I’ve had a lot of people asking where they can get her biography and a lot of interest in that period.“ • Pretty Witty Nell is at The Octagon on Thursday, October 2 and Friday, October 3.