Adapted from William Wycherley’s bawdy and outrageous Restoration comedy
Pinchwife and family admire the new signs in London, while Horner and the Rakes admire the ladies.
Mr. Horner has a brilliant plan to gain access to all the young wives in London -- simply spread the rumour that, through a "French disease", he's become
"an eunuch".
It works perfectly and he soon has more women than he can handle -- in closets, in bedrooms, behind screens. When their husbands and lovers show up, it gets tense.
The Country Wife is really one of the first English language sex farces -- so good that it was banned for more than 200 years!
Mr. Horner entertains some of the ladies of The Virtuous Gang.
The Restoration of the English Monarchy in 1660 (after 11 years of Puritan rule) brought about huge changes in the country. These included the birth of capitalism, the first imports of ceramics from Asia ("China"), the first imports of fresh fruit from the Mediterranean -- and the re-opening of London's theatres, along the lines of French playhouses. All of these are reflected in the, frankly, astonishing script that Wycherley created in 1675.
It was, however, too bawdy and frank for many tastes and was, effectively, banned from the stage until the 1920s when, suddenly, it was in tune with life in the Jazz Decade.
This new adaptation is trimmed, re-worked and has had several minor characters removed -- but it's still as bawdy and fun as it was.
If you're going to let your pretty young wife walk the streets of London,
don't dress her up in tight boys' clothes, first.
350 year old sex farces can still be popular as a full house at Perth, Ontario's
Full Circle Theatre watch a production of this adaptation in 2014.
The place: The lodgings of Horner, Pinchwife and others in London, 1673
95 minutes, plus intermission
6 women / 6 men / 1 unit set plus additions
95 minutes, plus intermission
6 women / 6 men / 1 unit set plus additions