'The Country Wife' at The Theatre Royal, Haymarket

After an early evening repast at the Val Taro with Chris, we walked round the corner to the Haymarket theatre for 'The Country Wife' by William Wycherley, a Restoration comedy from 1675. I vaguely recall 'doing' Restoration comedies at college all those years ago but remember very little other than I had a collection of four plays in one book and on the cover was a painting of a man in a big wig. Useful, huh?

Anyway, the blurb tells us:

One of the greatest and funniest comedies of the Restoration, The Country Wife tells the story of Horner, a notorious and lascivious man - about - town and his ingenious scheme for the rampant and mass seduction of the women of London society. By spreading the false rumour of his own impotence, he gains the sympathy of the husbands of the town and, more importantly, free access to their wives. Meanwhile the newly-married Pinchwife desperately attempts to keep his naïve country bride from the clutches of predatory London bachelors. When she and Horner meet, events spiral out of his control… Award-winning actors David Haig, Patricia Hodge and Toby Stephens lead the company in Wycherley’s dazzling comedy. Joining them is exciting young actress Fiona Glascott in the title role.

That should give you a flavour of the play which revels in the bawdy humour you'd expect. It has the standard elements including the young rakes about town, the lascivious older women, the wit and word-play, the innocent being corrupted, social commentary and hypocracy of the characters, etc etc. The unlikely premise of a young man feigning impotence (as a result of the 'French disease') in order to get close to the ladies is an odd one but it's fun to see what Wycherley does with it and how it all ends happily for some of the characters and less so for others.

I loved the set and staging, the colourful frock coats of the rakes with the details of trailing hankies from pockets mixing with them wearing jeans and modern shirts, while the women all wore period costumes. It was colourful and brash and kept me engaged. The sound didn't work during the first half (and the play started 20 minutes late when the stage hands decided they couldn't fix it in time) so it was odd to suddenly have music and sound effects in the second half of the play. I think I preferred it without the sound.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. David Haig played the manic middle-aged character he does so well (he played the same character in the farce, 'Donkeys Years' a couple of years ago) and Patricia Hodge was great as the lead lady wanting to get into Horner's pants (the lead rake) provided it didn't besmirch her honour with some lovely lines reflecting the double standards of the age where anything goes so long as you're not found out. I liked it.