The Country Wife ***1/2

Tue, 20 Mar 2007, 06:07 pm

‘The Country Wife’ based on the sixteenth century play written by William Wycherley, is now showing at the Geoff Gibbs Theatre in the WA Academy of Performing Arts, Mount Lawley at 7.30 pm until Thursday 22^nd March.

This play is believed to be one of the most lewd ever written; even the title was thought to be a crude pun. It was considered so obscene that it was banned in England for 200 years.

It is the story of a randy young man, Mr Horner (Will O’Mahony), who has such a bad reputation that no women are allowed, by their husbands, to go near him. So with the help of his doctor friend, Horner spreads the rumour that he is impotent and even a eunuch. When he is considered ‘sexually safe’, the local ladies are allowed free access to his rooms, as often as they like, by the fooled husbands. However one husband, Mr Pinchwife (Mark Casamento) is not so naïve and regularly locks up his wife (Danielle Baynes), thus creating a true challenge to Horner.

This production, which has been set in a 21^st century punk era, is extremely sanitised, possibly a little too much so. The script is mainly written in the Shakespearean mode, with a few modern expressions added. Two of the characters are blatantly (but effectively) borrowed from TV, they are Bubbles from ‘Absolutely fabulous’ and the ‘Yeh but…’ schoolgirl from ‘Little Britain’. Director Chris Edmund has built on this farce aspect of the story and it works reasonably well. There were lots of asides and minor visual jokes but the pace was still a little too sluggish – especially the first several minutes, where cast seemed to have trouble conquering their rapport and delivery.

The whole production was not nearly as bawdy as one would expect from an average modern-day farce, with several opportunities being missed for belly laughs. Fielding’s ‘Tom Jones’ was a memorable, fun romp; this didn’t quite get there. In view of the fact that the actors are third year acting students, some performances were surprisingly variable.

Many congratulations to Gemma Pranita, Daniella Baynes (fabulous timing) and Mark Casamento whose energy and delivery kept the show bouncing along and to Peter Rubie for the excellent lighting.

Sorry but slightly disappointed, missed opportunities.

I also saw this version of

Tue, 20 Mar 2007, 09:21 pm

Walter Plinge

I also saw this version of The Country Wife. I thought it was wonderful. At first I was a little hesitant at the idea of setting this seventeenth (not sixteenth) century play in modern times, but apart from some loud music, I found it didn't worry me at all. After a while I found the ultra modern set and costumes didn't matter as the performances took over. The language was not quite Shakespearan, but it was obviously unfamiliar to most of the audience, but it did not seem to matter as the acting skills of the cast together with some clever direction made the language gap much smaller through all the action. The pace of the dialogue was also very good, as they had to make a clever balance between being 'sluggish' and being understood. For me it worked; I was never bored, and could understood everything that they said. I think much of the direction helped, as it helped to explain the dialogue very well. The only critism I would have had was that sometimes actors masked each other, standing behing another as they delivered their lines. There are many funny bits through out the play, both in the script and with the direction. I was glad they did not overdo it in many cases. I am sure the "China" scene could have been made to be very crass, but some subtlely was allowed to provail in what was a very funny part of the play, which I liked. Overall I thought it was a very clever production. I sometimes wonder why they 'moderise' these classics, as the dialogue was obviously still old fashioned, but I found it did not worry me as much as I had expected. A worthwhile production to see, and a good example of how to explain an unfamiliar English paly to a modern day audience.

Thread (3 posts)

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The Country Wife ***1/2— Gordon the Optom20 Mar 2007

I also saw this version of— Walter Plinge20 Mar 2007
Confused— Walter Plinge25 Mar 2007

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