Aphra Behn's play, once considered too “shocking” for audiences, is being performed for the first time since 1671

For the first time in 350 years, a play by Aphra Behn will be presented that explores themes of gender, sexuality and patriarchy that were once considered too radical for audiences.

There is only one known production of Behn's work. The loving prince or the curious husband in 1671, after which he remained absent from the stage for hundreds of years.

Bravely tackling controversial issues such as gender, sexuality and coercive control, the play also marked the first time a woman played a “trousers role,” meaning an actress was allowed to dress as a man on stage.

Because it was presented as a comedy, many contemporaries felt that divisive issues should not be joked about and the play fell into obscurity. But now, 353 years later, the Canterbury Players are bringing it back into the spotlight.

“At the time it was written, it came at a period when this country was quite divided,” said director Natalie Cox, referring to the aftermath of the 1642 civil war.

“The play dealt with fun themes like aristocracy and patriarchy. It really pushed some of those boundaries around gender, sexuality and status in a way that was radical and shocking for the time.”

Aphra Behn herself had a storied life, as she was the first English author to write under her own name. Perhaps just as interesting as her literary career, she also worked as a spy in Antwerp after being noticed by King Charles II.

Later in life she became a writer, after separating from her husband, and gained a reputation for her witty political works.

His first work, Forced marriage, It was performed in 1670 and aroused popular demand for its continuation, The loving princejust five months later.

The story has two plot lines: that of the Amorous Prince, Frederik, who believes he has the right to have sex with any woman who takes his eye off of him, including his best friend's sister and fiancée, whom he threatens to rape.

The other plot line of The Curious Husband, Antonio, is about a man who sets up a trap for his beautiful wife, whom he believes is being unfaithful. However, the female characters outwit him, overhear his plan, and hatch a counterplot.

The legal ban on actresses playing the “trouser part” had been in effect only a year earlier, in 1660, making its inclusion by Behn a controversial point, and perhaps contributing to it never being performed again.

Having no reference to previous performances has been an “exciting challenge” for the Canterbury actors, and Ms Cox said they decided to take risks to modernise the play.

“It can be quite daunting because there’s an empty stage and we weren’t sure what we were going to put on it,” he said. “There’s no YouTube or previous National Theatre performances to draw ideas from. It’s a very exciting challenge and a great opportunity to create history.”

Rather than setting the play in a traditional Shakespearean city of Florence, the group placed the stage in a modern city to highlight the relevance of the play's themes to today's society.

Ms Cox added: “We took some risks in the way we modernised it. We brought it forward to highlight the relevance of the issues and we didn’t do it in the spirit of Aphra Behn.

“Sexuality, coercive control, toxic masculinity, and illusions of queer identity are present throughout the book, and we have tried to remove them.”

The play is being presented as part of a larger project at the university on Behn's life and work. Tickets for all three nights of this week's play have already sold out.