"The Country Wife" at UMKC Theatre, 29 March-13 April 2008, directed by Theodore Swetz

We began rehearsals for William Wycherley's The Country Wife in January 2008. This was my first Restoration play in performance, and it was one of the most challenging (and rewarding) productions that I had worked on so far.

I compiled 24 dramaturgical notebooks for the members of the cast and crew. Because we were using the 1967 Gerald Weales edition of the play as our script, it was necessary to create a supplemental performance glossary with more comprehensive explanatory notes. The notebook also included an analysis of character, production and plot, and some chapters from relevant acting texts and scholarly sources.

In particular, I included selections from Simon Callow's Acting in Restoration Comedy (1991); Deborah Payne Fisk's The Cambridge Companion to Restoration Theatre (2000); James Ogden's introduction to The Country Wife from the New Mermaid Edition (1991); and selections from J.L. Styan's Restoration Comedy in Performance (1996).

In order to make the production as authentic as possible, it seemed that an understanding of Restoration theatre history was important. To that end, I included a chronology of the London theatre from 1660 to 1800, several illustrations of the Drury Lane theatre's interior and exterior, and a map of theatrical London (which was important since there are many references to different geographical locations in the play).

I also included portraits of William Wycherly, Charles II, Christopher Wren (the architect of the second Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), and Edward Kynaston and Michael Mohun, who were actors in the original production of The Country Wife. At the request of the movement coach, I included several links to websites for further exploration and information on relevant materials that were pertinent to the production.

The notebook included additional information on the Restoration theatre audience and the theatregoing experience: orange wenches, vizard masks, the pit, the boxes, and the galleries; transvestite playing; and some Restoration recreations mentioned in The Country Wife, such as Loo, Piquet and Nine-pins (a.k.a. "Skittles"). I also added in a review of The Country Wife written by Richard Steele for a 14 April 1709 production that he attended at Will's Coffee House, and a selection from Jeremy Collier's A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698).