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Mr. and Mrs. Pinchwife, Sir Jasper Fidget, and Old Lady Squeamish will arrive at Drayton Hall Theatre Feb. 3 for the opening night of The Country Wife. The comedy of manners, written in the 17th century by English dramatist and poet William Wycherley, will run through Feb. 12.
"The play takes place in a world where every husband wants to make sure his wife stays true, and every other man wants to make sure the wives don't," said Jim Hunter, Theatre South Carolina artistic director. "It is funny, but it is also bitingly satirical, and it casts men and women, husbands and wives as single-minded, not-very-likable people."
The play begins when Master Horner, an infamous rake, comes back from a trip abroad and spreads the rumor that he has become a eunuch. Meanwhile, Mr. Pinchwife has married a much younger woman from the country, thinking that she will have simple tastes and will not be blinded by dissolute London and its court. The married men of London believe Horner, and so they begin to trust him with their wives, a most unfortunate decision. Then comes Horner's madcap pursuit of Mrs. Pinchwife.
First performed in London in 1675, The Country Wife was later considered lewd and wasn't performed for about 200 years. It was resurrected in the 1920s and has since become popular.
Theatre South Carolina's production is being guest-directed by J.R. Sullivan, associate artistic director of the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Sullivan also directed Love's Labour's Lost at USC in 2004.
Scene design is being done by theatre faculty member Nic Ularu. Costume design is being done by MFA student Angelina Herin. Jason Diaz is the student lighting designer. The cast consists of seven undergraduate students, several graduate students, and a few community members, including Charles Wetzel, who was previously in USC's The Cherry Orchard and A Midsummer Night's Dream; Paul Caughman, who was in USC's The Illusion; and Paul Bucker, a USC Sumter faculty member.
The language in The Country Wife is both very dense and very entertaining because of its wit, said Sarah Barker, theatre faculty member and movement coach for USC's production. She is working with theatre faculty member Erica Tobolski to make sure the movement work supports the elaborate language.
"Normally, when you do a Restoration-era play, you try to stay true to the modes and manners, the costume, and all of the particular habits of the period because the play is based on the comedy that refers to those kinds of habits," Barker said. "That period has huge crinolins underneath dresses, short knickers, men in high heels, fans, snuff boxes, and all sorts of physical behavior that was practiced in the King's court at that time. All of that needs to show up on stage. We have to get the actors comfortable with all of that. It's important that the audience gets to laugh at the mannerisms of the time but not focus on them. The focus must be on the play."
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Mr. Horner, played by student Demetrius Troy, tickles Lady Fidget, played by student Marybeth Gorman, in Theatre South Carolina's production of The Country Wife.
