![John Vanbrugh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/John_Vanbrugh.jpg)
''The Provoked Wife'' (1697) is the second original comedy written by
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...
. It made its first appearance in Lincoln's Inn Fields in May, 1697. The often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy ''The Provoked Wife'' in the
Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...
is based on allusions in a couple of much later memoirs, but is regarded with some doubt by modern scholars (see McCormick). It is different in tone from his first play, the largely farcical ''
The Relapse
''The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger'' is a Restoration comedy from 1696 written by John Vanbrugh. The play is a sequel to Colley Cibber's '' Love's Last Shift, or, The Fool in Fashion''.
In Cibber's ''Love's Last Shift'', a free-living Resto ...
'', 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' cooperative boasted the established star performers of the age, and Vanbrugh tailored ''The Provoked Wife'' to their specialties. 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
Thomas Patrick Betterton (August 1635 – 28 April 1710), the leading male actor and theatre manager during Restoration England, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London.
Apprentice and actor
Betterton was born in August 16 ...
,
Elizabeth Barry
Elizabeth Barry (1658 – 7 November 1713) was an English actress of the Restoration period.
Elizabeth Barry's biggest influence on Restoration drama was her presentation of performing as the tragic actress. She worked in large, prestigious L ...
, and the rising young star
Anne Bracegirdle
Anne Bracegirdle (possibly 167112 September 1748) was an English actress.
Biography
Bracegirdle was born to Justinian and Martha (born Furniss) Bracegirdle in Northamptonshire. She was baptised in Northampton on 15 November 1671, although her to ...
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 tragic/comic heroine pair to bring audiences the typically tragic/comic 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 Bellinda (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
The problem play is a form of drama that emerged during the 19th century as part of the wider movement of realism in the arts, especially following the innovations of Henrik Ibsen. It deals with contentious social issues through debates between th ...
. The premise of the plot, that a wife trapped in an abusive marriage might consider either leaving it or taking a lover, outraged some sections of Restoration society.
A later unfinished play by Vanbrugh was completed by
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling ...
and staged under the title ''
The Provoked Husband
''The Provoked Husband'' is a 1728 comedy play by the British writer and actor Colley Cibber, based on a fragment of play written by John Vanbrugh. It is also known by the longer title ''The Provok'd Husband: or, a Journey to London''.
Vanbrugh ...
'' in 1728.
Plot
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 his wife's frock. 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. But 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 honor).
Adaptations
One of the first radio adaptations was broadcast on the
BBC Third Programme
The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...
on 15 June 1948. The production was adapted by Ronald Simpson, and the cast included
Norman Shelley
Norman Shelley (16 February 1903 – 21 August 1980) was a British actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's '' Children's Hour''. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera ''T ...
as Sir John Brute,
Lydia Sherwood
Lydia Sherwood (5 May 1906 – 20 April 1989) was a British film actress and stage actress. She made her debut on stage in Daisy Fisher's comedy play ''Lavender Ladies''.Wearing, 2014, p. 379 She was married to the poet Lazarus Aaronson fro ...
as Lady Brute,
Ellen Pollock
Ellen Pollock (29 June 1902 – 29 March 1997) was a British character actress who mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films and TV productions.
A devotee of Bernard Shaw, she was president of the Shaw S ...
as Lady Fanciful.
In 1963 Prospect Productions (Oxford Playhouse) presented at Century Theatre, Binsey. They presented in Oxford as well. Toby Robertson, producer, June Brown, Trevor Martin (Sir John Brute), John Bonney, Tim Seely as gallants and An 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
Madeleine Winefride Isabelle Dring (7 September 1923 – 26 March 1977) was an English composer, pianist, singer and actress.
Life
Madeleine Dring spent the first four years of her life at Raleigh Road, Harringay, before the family moved to Stre ...
. It was repeated at Georgian Theatre, Richmond, Yorkshire. This show was brought to London to the Vaudeville.
Trevor Peacock
Trevor Edward Peacock (19 May 1931 – 8 March 2021) was an English actor, screenwriter and songwriter. He made his name as a theatre actor, later becoming known for his Shakespearean roles. Later in his career, he became best known for playing ...
played Sir John Brute,
Prunella Scales
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...
Lady Brute and
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to:
*ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life"
People
* Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name
Film and television
* ''Zoe'' (film)
* ZOE Broadcast ...
Belinda in a production at the
Watford Palace Theatre
Watford Palace Theatre, opened in 1908, is an Edwardian Grade II listed building in Watford, Hertfordshire. The 600-seat theatre on Clarendon Road was refurbished in 2004. It houses its own rehearsal room, wardrobe, cafe and bar.
History
The ...
21 February – 10 March 1973.
In 1991, the play was presented in the short-lived open-air theatre at the
Weald and Downland Museum
The Weald and Downland Living Museum (formerly known as the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum until January 2017) is an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex. The museum is a registered charity.
The museum covers , with over 50 historic bu ...
near
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
. It starred
Sam Kelly
Roger Michael Kelly (19 December 1943 – 14 June 2014), known by the stage name Sam Kelly, was an English actor who appeared in film, television, radio and theatre. He is best known for his roles as Captain Hans Geering in '' 'Allo 'Allo ...
as Sir John Brute and
Philippa Urquhart
Philippa Urquhart is a British actress, best known for her performance as Lillian Cartland in the 1980s BBC television drama '' Tenko''.
Career
Urquhart has worked as a film, television and theatre actress for more than fifty years. A former m ...
as Lady Fanciful.
On 12 December 2004,
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
broadcast an adaptation by
Jim Poyser
Jim or JIM may refer to:
* Jim (given name), a given name
* Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James
* Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy
* OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism
* ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring
* ''Jim' ...
directed by Pauline Harris. The cast included
Julian Rhind-Tutt
Julian Alistair Rhind-Tutt (born 20 July 1967) is an English actor, best known for playing Dr "Mac" Macartney in the comedy television series ''Green Wing'' (2004–2006).
Early life
Rhind-Tutt was born in West Drayton, Middlesex, the youngest o ...
as Heartfree,
Tom Mannion
Tom Mannion is a Scottish actor.
His television credits include ''Brookside'', ''Up the Garden Path'', ''The Bill'', ''Boon'', ''Cadfael'', ''Doctor Finlay'', ''Doctors'', ''Eleventh Hour'', ''Holby City'', '' Roman Mysteries'', '' Hustle'', ' ...
as Constant, Dave Hill as Sir John Brute,
Saskia Reeves
Saskia Reeves (born 16 August 1961) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films '' Close My Eyes'' (1991) and ''I.D.'' (1995), the 2000 miniseries ''Frank Herbert's Dune'' and the 2016 film '' Our Kind of Traitor''.
Early lif ...
as Lady Brute,
Sarah Smart
Sarah Smart (born 3 March 1977) is an English actress.
Early life
Smart was born on 3 March 1977 in Birmingham, England and lived in Northfield until 1987. She was a pupil of St Paul's School for Girls in Birmingham.
Career
Her career star ...
as Belinda, Josie Lawrence as Lady Fanciful, Tonia Chauvet as Claudette, David Crellin as Colonel Bully and Alexander Delamere as Lord Rake. The production was re-broadcast on 19 July 2015.
In March, 2010 the Generation Theatre of San Francisco, CA presented ''Provoquée'', a play by Roland David Valayre (who also directed the production) based on ''The Provoked Wife'' and performed entirely in French, at the Off Market Theater, San Francisco. the cast included Cécile Lejeune, Françoise Lejeune, Benoît Levet, Michel Gasquy, Pierre-Yves Gouret, Marion Lovinger, Vincent Madiot, Thierry Rosset and Mireille Sagne. Generation Theatre later produced the actual Vanbrugh play 17 April – 4 May 2014.
In June 2014
Michael Cordner
Michael Cordner is an academic, author and specialist in theatre and drama.
His particular interests lie in English drama from c.1580–1720 and the development of the theatre in the UK in the second half of the twentieth century.
A former Pro ...
directed the play at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television, University of York.
The play was performed as part of the summer 2019 season at the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
, directed by Phillip Breen.
References
*McCormick, Frank (1991). ''Sir John Vanbrugh: The Playwright as Architect.'' University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.
External links
Film of University of York, Department of Theatre, Film and Television's 2014 production*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Provoked Wife, The
Plays by John Vanbrugh
1697 plays
Restoration comedy
Plays set in the 17th century