IDX Productions

THE PROVOKED WIFE

REVIEWS:

"In Vanbrugh's late-Restoration comedy, with its bitter breakfast opening scene, the hitherto virtuous Lady Brute is provoked to infidelity by her sour, sottish husband. Married in haste – she for money, he for sex – the Brutes are shackled by wedlock but looking for diversions. He goes off for a drunken night on the town and ends up before a magistrate, disguised in his wife's frock. Meanwhile, she and her niece Belinda dress as Shepherd Market doxies for a secret tryst with their suitors and are spied on by the envious Lady Fandiful. Belinda wins her man and marries for love. But it ends sadly for boozy Brute who attempts to rape his wife, discovers two gallants lurking in his wardrobe, and becomes a battered old cluckold being 'tidied away' by his tut-tutting valet."
What's on in London

"Paul Jepson's modern-day staging of Vanbrugh's comedy The Provoked Wife (so modern it even restores that missing "e" to the original "Provok'd") is endlessly witty and inventive, and a world away from high-concept directorial visions. Everything here is done in service of the piece ... The move from the milieu of Restoration foppery to contemporary London 'mediocracy' is an astute one: here, too, is a cliquey and incestuous little world. So, Heartfree becomes a columnist for Sight & Sound, and Lady Fanciful's ludicrous affectations of costume and accent become mock London-Jamaican.
Financial Times

"Sir John Brute, charmingly overacted by Simon Merrells, is a modern cad but slips down the centuries with character intact. It is easy to imagine this philanderer as a contemporary man and one sees why his poor young wife (Jane Robbins) is obliged to seek love elsewhere."
British Theatre Guide

"Merrells engages the audience with a boisterous comic portrayal of an arrogant, bawdy sop."
The Stage

"Sir John Brute is such a bitter and twisted malcontent that it's a particular kind of pleasure to spend an evening in his company: Vanbrugh has arguably created Restoration comedy's most charismatic of wife-haters. The plot hinges on whether or not his put-upon spouse will run away to her lapdog lover, Constant, and whether the provoking husband will ever be sober enough to suss out what's going on. It's agreeably silly stuff – lots of lovers in cupboards and spies in bushes – and … Jepson's attention to detail can be inspirational."
Time Out

"It has a fizz of naughtiness about it ... Iona Grant and Edward MacLiam are cool and witty as the protagonists of the sub-plot, and Estelle Morgan is wonderfully pert as a French maid."
Metro

"Jane Galloway's sad, sleazy Lady Fanciful is as relevant now as it was back in 1697, a scheming, nosy-parker who lunches and gossips. A woman past her best, Lady Fanciful is trying to reclaim her youth with outrageous clothes, plenty of bling-bling jewellery and a strange, affected Jamaican accent that isn't fooling anyone."
Southwark News

"The evening's stand-out is Edward MacLiam's Heartfree, cool, clear-eyed and passionate. A special cheer also goes to Mike Hayley who, with his gift for instant comic characterisation, plays every other part."
What's on in London

"The set for this modern-dress adaptation of Vanbrugh's Restoration comedy is a masterpiece of elegant economy. Designed by Jess Curtis, it features gliding translucent screen doors that combine with Sven Ortel's lighting to transform effortlessly from a closet that conceals illicit lovers, to French windows opening on to a sunny garden."
The Times

"Paul Jepson is never afraid to experiment and his innovation succeeds ... it makes one consider the language and characters afresh and brings new laughs that the playwright could never have imagined."
British Theatre Guide

"… if you're wondering why I'm not discussing these plays in greater detail, I'm afraid there's very little one can say about classic comedies staged with so much panache. Besides, I'm a critic. My joy is to criticise. Praise makes very dull work indeed.
Lloyd Evans, The Spectator