1. William Wycherley The Country Wife Image: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/aliceeardley/monthly/0208/

2. William Wycherley 1640 — 1715 Studied law Royal favourite until his secret marriage to an heiress Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Wycherley_by_Sir_Peter_Lely.jpg

3. Production Debuted 1665 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Country_Wife_1st_ed_1675.png

4. Critical reception Highly successful, though risque Out of favour from 1753 to 1924, replaced by Garrick’s The Country Girl (1766) Now part of the theatrical repertory Image: http://http-server.carleton.ca/~mflynnbu/PositivePresenceAbsence/Ignatius_Sancho.htm

5. 1998 production Image: http://georgehartpence.com/showphotos_1995to1999.aspx

6. Sudbury Dramatic Society, Suffolk, 2004 Image: http://sudburydramatic.com/countrywife.html

7. Addison Theater, Texas, 2007

8. The Court Live Theatre, New Zealand Image: http://www.courttheatre.org.nz/index.cfm/1,18,html/The-Company

9. U of Colorado, Boulder, 2010 Image: http://www.athe.org/node/13

10. Adaptations Shampoo (1975) Image: http://3linesabout.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.htmlhttp://3linesabout.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

11. Lust (1992) http://www.philipcrammond.com/heather_brothers/lust.htm

12. Structure Three plots: Horner’s “impotence” Margery and Pinchwife Alithea and Harcourt Image: http://bnadesigner.com/countrywife

13. Antecedents Terence’s Eunuchus Molière’s School for Husbands (1661) and School for Wives (1662)

14. How do the three plots work together? Upon reading it, does one or the other take precedence, or are they equally balanced?

15. Horner... Harcourt... Pinchwife... Sir Jasper Fidget... Margery... Lady Fidget... Alithea... Charles Hart Edward Kynaston Michael Mohun William Cartwright Elizabeth Boutell Elizabeth Knepp Elizabeth James original cast

16. 18th — 19thc: Outrage > “Immoral” Early 20thc: Tentative recuperation > “Satiric” Now > little consensus Critical Reaction

17. Further questions How does social class function in this play? How would you produce it? i.e. what aspects would you emphasize, and how?

18. Image: http://www.twilightstouch.com/index.php?cPath=31_33 “The country wife” in a 1976 pulp porn novel, playing on the “farmer’s daughter” stereotype