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The Provoked Wife
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The Provoked Wife
The Provoked Wife (1697) is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh. It made its first appearance in Lincoln's Inn Fields in May, 1697. The premise of the plot, of a wife trapped in an abusive marriage considering either leaving it or taking a lover, outraged some sections of Restoration society. A later unfinished play by Vanbrugh was completed by Colley Cibber and staged under the title The Provoked Husband in 1728.
The hitherto virtuous Lady Brute is provoked to infidelity by her sour husband Sir John Brute. 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 a priest's habit stolen from a tailor.
Meanwhile, Lady Brute and her niece Belinda dress as Shepherd Market doxies for a secret tryst with their suitors Heartfree and Constant and are spied on by the envious Lady Fanciful, who wants Heartfree for herself. Belinda, despite interference from Lady Fanciful, wins her man and marries for love. It ends sadly for the boozy Brute who attempts to rape his wife, discovers two gallants lurking in his wardrobe and finally ends up accepting certain situations rather than becoming a human pincushion, i.e., fighting a duel to satisfy his honour.
Writer and Professor of English Frank McCormick raises doubt on the often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy The Provoked Wife in the Bastille being based on allusions in a couple of much later memoirs. It is different in tone from his first play, the largely farcical 1696 comedy The Relapse, and adapted to the greater acting skills of the new company of actors chosen for its premiere, who walked out not long before in a dispute with management.
The actors' co-operative boasted the established star performers of the age, and Vanbrugh tailored The Provoked Wife to their specialities. While The Relapse had been robustly phrased to be suitable for amateurs and minor acting talents, he could count on versatile professionals like Thomas Betterton, Elizabeth Barry and the rising young star Anne Bracegirdle to do justice to characters of depth and nuance.
The Provoked Wife is a comedy, but Elizabeth Barry, who played the abused wife, was especially famous as a tragic actress, and for her power of "moving the passions", i.e., moving an audience to pity and tears. Barry and the younger Bracegirdle had often worked together as a tragicomic heroine pair to bring audiences the typically tragicomic rollercoaster experience of Restoration plays. Vanbrugh takes advantage of this schema and these actresses to deepen audience sympathy for the unhappily married Lady Brute, even as she fires off her witty ripostes. In the intimate conversational dialogue between Lady Brute and her niece Belinda (Bracegirdle), and especially in the star part of Sir John Brute the brutish husband (Betterton), which was hailed as one of the peaks of Thomas Betterton's remarkable career, The Provoked Wife is something as unusual as a Restoration problem play.
One of the first radio adaptations was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 15 June 1948. The production was adapted by Ronald Simpson, and the cast included Norman Shelley as Sir John Brute, Lydia Sherwood as Lady Brute and Ellen Pollock as Lady Fanciful.
In 1963, Prospect Productions (Oxford Playhouse) presented at Century Theatre, Binsey, as well as in Oxford. Toby Robertson, producer, June Brown, Trevor Martin (Sir John Brute), John Bonney, Tim Seely as gallants and A. Bell as Bellinda, Eileen Atkins as Lady Brute. Josephine Woodford as the maid, Robert Arnold her suitor and Edward Hardwicke as the J.P. Alan Barrett provided sets and it featured the "clever pastiche" of Madeleine Dring. It was repeated at Georgian Theatre, Richmond, Yorkshire. This show was brought to London to the Vaudeville.
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The Provoked Wife
The Provoked Wife (1697) is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh. It made its first appearance in Lincoln's Inn Fields in May, 1697. The premise of the plot, of a wife trapped in an abusive marriage considering either leaving it or taking a lover, outraged some sections of Restoration society. A later unfinished play by Vanbrugh was completed by Colley Cibber and staged under the title The Provoked Husband in 1728.
The hitherto virtuous Lady Brute is provoked to infidelity by her sour husband Sir John Brute. 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 a priest's habit stolen from a tailor.
Meanwhile, Lady Brute and her niece Belinda dress as Shepherd Market doxies for a secret tryst with their suitors Heartfree and Constant and are spied on by the envious Lady Fanciful, who wants Heartfree for herself. Belinda, despite interference from Lady Fanciful, wins her man and marries for love. It ends sadly for the boozy Brute who attempts to rape his wife, discovers two gallants lurking in his wardrobe and finally ends up accepting certain situations rather than becoming a human pincushion, i.e., fighting a duel to satisfy his honour.
Writer and Professor of English Frank McCormick raises doubt on the often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy The Provoked Wife in the Bastille being based on allusions in a couple of much later memoirs. It is different in tone from his first play, the largely farcical 1696 comedy The Relapse, and adapted to the greater acting skills of the new company of actors chosen for its premiere, who walked out not long before in a dispute with management.
The actors' co-operative boasted the established star performers of the age, and Vanbrugh tailored The Provoked Wife to their specialities. While The Relapse had been robustly phrased to be suitable for amateurs and minor acting talents, he could count on versatile professionals like Thomas Betterton, Elizabeth Barry and the rising young star Anne Bracegirdle to do justice to characters of depth and nuance.
The Provoked Wife is a comedy, but Elizabeth Barry, who played the abused wife, was especially famous as a tragic actress, and for her power of "moving the passions", i.e., moving an audience to pity and tears. Barry and the younger Bracegirdle had often worked together as a tragicomic heroine pair to bring audiences the typically tragicomic rollercoaster experience of Restoration plays. Vanbrugh takes advantage of this schema and these actresses to deepen audience sympathy for the unhappily married Lady Brute, even as she fires off her witty ripostes. In the intimate conversational dialogue between Lady Brute and her niece Belinda (Bracegirdle), and especially in the star part of Sir John Brute the brutish husband (Betterton), which was hailed as one of the peaks of Thomas Betterton's remarkable career, The Provoked Wife is something as unusual as a Restoration problem play.
One of the first radio adaptations was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 15 June 1948. The production was adapted by Ronald Simpson, and the cast included Norman Shelley as Sir John Brute, Lydia Sherwood as Lady Brute and Ellen Pollock as Lady Fanciful.
In 1963, Prospect Productions (Oxford Playhouse) presented at Century Theatre, Binsey, as well as in Oxford. Toby Robertson, producer, June Brown, Trevor Martin (Sir John Brute), John Bonney, Tim Seely as gallants and A. Bell as Bellinda, Eileen Atkins as Lady Brute. Josephine Woodford as the maid, Robert Arnold her suitor and Edward Hardwicke as the J.P. Alan Barrett provided sets and it featured the "clever pastiche" of Madeleine Dring. It was repeated at Georgian Theatre, Richmond, Yorkshire. This show was brought to London to the Vaudeville.
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