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The Ark Theatre Company at the Hayworth rolls into the second production of its 10th anniversary season with a rollicking production of William Wycherly’s cuckolding classic, “The Country Wife.” The assorted philandering and hypocrisies of London’s Restoration elite are laid bare in Wycherly’s scathing but hilarious masterpiece.
The aptly named Harry Horner hatches a scurrilous plan to bed the upper crust ladies of London by feigning impotence. Convinced he is harmless, the city’s stuffed shirts allow him ready access to their wives while the “virtuous” wives are quite delighted to have an acceptable cover for their clandestine affairs. When the ...Read More
The Ark Theatre Company at the Hayworth rolls into the second production of its 10th anniversary season with a rollicking production of William Wycherly’s cuckolding classic, “The Country Wife.” The assorted philandering and hypocrisies of London’s Restoration elite are laid bare in Wycherly’s scathing but hilarious masterpiece.
The aptly named Harry Horner hatches a scurrilous plan to bed the upper crust ladies of London by feigning impotence. Convinced he is harmless, the city’s stuffed shirts allow him ready access to their wives while the “virtuous” wives are quite delighted to have an acceptable cover for their clandestine affairs. When the stuffiest shirt of all, Pinchwife, brings his new country bride into the city, her curiosity and Horner’s shamelessness collide, spinning the play into rampant confusion, cuckoldry and all around bawdiness. Banned from the stage for almost 200 years, this scandalous satire is as hilarious and suggestive today as it was over 300 years ago.
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