Peter Viney's Blog

The Provoked Wife
By John Vanbrugh

Directed by Philip Breen
Designed by Mark Bailey
Music composed by Paddy Cunneen

Royal Shakespeare Company
The Swan Theatre

Saturday 15th June 2019, matinee

CAST:

Jonathan Slinger- Sir John Brute
Alexandra Gilbraith- Lady Brute
Natalie Dew – Belinda, her niece
Steve Nicolson – Rasr, valet to Sir John
Polly Edsell – Lovewell, a servant
Rufus Hound – Constant
John Hodgkinson – Heartfree
Carl Prekopp – Lord Rake, companion to Sir John
Les Dennis – Colonel Bully, companion to Sir John
Caroline Quentin – Lady Fancyfull
Sarah Twomey- Mademoiselle
Isobel Adomakoh Young – Corbet – Lady Fancyful’sservant
Rosalind Steele – Pipe, a singer
Toby Webster- Treble, a singing master
Nickcolia King N’Da – Tailor
Ben Roddy – Watch
Alison Halstead- Constable
Kevin N Golding – Justice of The Peace
Pete Ashmore – Porter
Pete Ashmore, Ben Roddy- servants

LIVE MUSIC
Claire Louise Appleby – flute, piccolo
Louis Braithwaite – oboe
Rela Spyrou- clarinet
Matt Hapton – Flugal horn, piccolo trumpet
Rebecca Eldridge – bassoon

Rosalind Steele as Pipe, the singer at Lady Fancyful’s house

Great, there was a pre-show involving the five listed musicians, who are costumed. They will appear on stage to play throughout, plus we have Rosalind Steele and Tony Webster there in the cast as singers, and also (uncredited) the cast members play cello, lute and violins in the four main musical set pieces – the last of which is sung by Rufus Hound.

This is Restoration comedy at its funniest. Sir John Brute ( 17th and 18th century naming of characters lacked subtlety) has married Lady Brute for sex, as she declines to fornicate otherwise. She has married him for money. Two years on he is a drunken … well, brute. Lady Brute conspires with her niece, Belinda. Should she take on a lover or not? Her candidate is Constant, while Belinda is quite taken with Heartfree in spite of his apparent bachelor disregard for relationships.

L to R: Sir John Brute (Jonathan Slinger), and the gallants;  Constant (Rufus Hound), Heartfree (John Hodgkinson)

Their neighbour is Lady Fancyful, who thinks herself the epitome of beauty, even if she’s getting on more than a bit. She is egged on by Mademoiselle, her conniving French maid. She has a host of servants, including a singing master and singer ands sees herself as both a champion of the arts and a songwriter.

Caroline Quentin as Lady Fancyful. Sarah Twomey as Mademoiselle extreme right.

Lady Brute and Belinda arrange to meet their beaus for a frolic at Spring Gardens, where they encounter Sir John who assumes the masked women are “punks” (whores). Off he lurches.  They are observed by the jealous Lady Fancyful and Mademoiselle who determine to alert Sir John. Meanwhile, Sir John has gone off whoring with his drunken companions.

Sir John in the whorehouse. Toby Webster as singing master works there as well as at Lady Fancyful’s.

The three get into a fight afterwards and apparently murder someone. They then attack a tailor for no apparent reason, and find he is taking a dress to Lady Brute. Sodden in drink, Sir John puts on the dress, and then the Watch arrive to arrest them. They assume Sir John is a woman, and he begins to enjoy the role. Back at the house, Lady Brute, Belinda, Constant and Heartfree are playing cards when alerted of Sir John’s return. They hide the men in the closet, where Sir John discovers them. Go and see it to find out what happens.

Sir John Brute (Jonathan Slinger) and Lord Rake (Carl Prekopp) have fun

The main thing is they have so many actors here who have that rare quality of being able to hold an audience solo. It starts with Natalie Dew as Prologue (as well as the niece, Belinda) and the baton is taken up by Jonathan Slinger as Sir John, then by Alexandra Gilbraith as Lady Brute, then by Caroline Quentin as Lady Fancyful. Both Rufus Hound (Constant) and John Hodgkinson (Heartsfree) can do it with ease. So can Sarah Twomey as Mademoiselle and finally Steve Nicholson as the servant, Rasr. They’re all fully capable of doing a lead role and drawing the audience in with winks, expressions, appeals, interactive stuff.  Basically, you have eight leading comedy actors.

Jonathan Slinger as Sir John Brute

Jonathan Slinger is an RSC Associate Artist, and when I started this blog, he was in everything for two years. He played Hamlet, Macbeth, Prospero, Malvolio, Paroles in All’s Well That Ends Well. This is a long term tendency, then actors go away, do other stuff and return. Slinger returns better than ever. His Sir John has rotten teeth, rotten clothes and a rotten temper. His greatest moment is dressed up in his wife’s frock. confronting the watch, who he accuses of abusing him (or rather “her.”) It’s all in the original – the programme reproduces a painting of David Garrick in the role. The scene with The Watch is a masterclass in comic timing as Slinger assaults all three very swiftly while being interrogated by the Constable and Justice and manages to assault all three with one slap.

The Watch, watch in trepidation

Then his reaction to finding men in his wife’s closet is priceless. When Sir John and his two drunken companions, Colonel Bully and Lord Rake, initially attack the tailor, there’s an uncomfortable reminder of the Steven Lawrence case as the tailor is black and the three thuggish assailants are white. Sir John is inclined to a few England First! shouts too. A budding Brexiteer.

Alexandra Gilbraith as Lady Brute

We have two brilliant leading ladies. Alexandra Gilbraith and Caroline Quentin both give so many funny facial expressions. Caroline Quentin has the broader flat-out comic role, and she’s always great but this is the best we’ve ever seen her. Alexandra Gilbraith has to hover between desire and loyalty, her whole body twisted with anguish of decision, and is so adept at bringing the whole audience into her confidence to share her internal dilemma.

Three great actresses: L to R: Natalie Dew as Belinda, Caroline Quentin as Lady Fancyful, Alexandra Gilbraith as Lady Brute

The supporting actresses, Natalie Dew as Belinda and Sarah Twomey as Mademoiselle are also superb. Natalie Dew is playing against John Hodgkinson in Venice Preserved too, in such a different role. I especially enjoyed watching Caroline Quentin with viciously twisted mouth, criticizing Belinda’s looks, while Belinda quietly sat, looking stunning, with subtle facial responses.

Natalie Dew as Belinda

Our two gallants are both “lead role guys”, Rufus Hound as Constant and John Hodgkinson as Heartsfree. Two more very funny roles, working well together.

Everyone is involved in set changing. They’ve set the stage with fake curtains and a plain back wall with concealed door to like like a 1690s theatre. They even have rows of LED candles to look like footlights. Everything comes on and off otherwise. Whenever Lady Fancyful appears, a cirtcle of mirrors is brought on. It’s instructive to see Les Dennis (also a loud Colonel Bully, Sir John’s pal) and Steve Nicholson (Rasr, the valet) humping tables, mirrors and chairs around the stage with everyone else.

The songs are great – bringing on the singer and the singing master. Rosalind Steele sings one from a trapeze. They get criticized in a review or two, but I thought them an essential part of the concept.

Meeting in Spring Gardens – Lady Brute and Constant

I enjoyed the idea of a frolic at Spring Gardens. It’s now the Trafalgar Square end of the Mall, and has the British Council HQ and a large car park which gives a very good discount for those with West End theatre tickets, so we often use it. It’s set in my Sat Nav as a favourite address. On language, there are three references to “punk” meaning “whore” which Shakespeare also had used.

I thought the songs were marvellous.

I’m hovering on the 4 star / 5 star interface. Some complain about length – 2 hours 45 minutes stage time, but they didn’t over-run it, and it never felt long to me, though as ever I’m inclined to “if in doubt lop ten minutes off.” Traditional costume. No major gender swaps – though Alison Halstead played the Constable and referenced “my wife.” But it’s a minor role. As with Breen’s The Hypocrite and the recent The Rover and The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, The Swan Theatre excels at these raucous randy comedies.

**** +

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

4 star
Domenic Cavendish, The Telegraph ****
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage ****
Gary Naylor, Broadway World ****
James Garrington, Reviews Hub, ****
3 star
Michael Billington, The Guardian ***

Even if there is too much of it, it is a good evening that honours an important play and reminds us that Vanbrugh was one of the first dramatists to pin down the torture of a loveless marriage.

Michael Davies, What’s On Stage ***
Alice Saville, Financial Times ***
2 star
Sam Marlowe, The Times **

LINKS ON THIS BLOG
The Provoked Wife is playing in repertory with Venice Preserved at The Swan, with many of the cast featuring in both.

PHILIP BREEN (Director)
The Hypocrite by Richard Bean, RSC 2017
The Shoemaker’s Holiday, RSC, 2015
The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC, 2012

JONATHAN SLINGER
Macbeth, RSC 2011 as Macbeth
The Tempest RSC 2012 as Prospero
Comedy of Errors RSC ’12  as Dr Pinch
Twelfth Night RSC 2012    as Malvolio
Hamlet RSC 2013  as Hamlet
All’s Well That Ends Well RSC 2013 as Paroles
Plastic, by Marius von Mayenburg, Bath 2017
Absolute Hell, National, 2018

ALEXANDRA GILBRAITH
The Lie, Menier Chocolate Fsctory, 2017
The Rover, RSC 2016 (Bianca)
The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC 2012 (Mistress Ford)

RUFUS HOUND
Present Laughter, Chichester 2018
What The Butler Saw, by Joe Orton, Bath 2017
Don Quixote, RSC 2016
The Wars of The Roses, trilogy, Kingston, 2015, Barton & Hall adaptation
• Henry VI (Henry VI Part i mainly)
• Edward IV (Henry VI Parts 2 & 3)
• Richard III (Richard III)

JOHN HODGKINSON
Venice Preserved, RSC 2019 (Senator Antonio)
The Country Wife, Minerva, Chichester 2018 (Pinchwife)
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017 (Sir Toby Belch)
Love’s Labour’s Lost– RSC 2014 (Don Armado)
Love’s Labour’s Won RSC 2014 (Don Pedro)
Hangmen, by Martin McDonagh, 2015 (Pierrepointe)
Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC / Chichester 2016 (Don Armado)
Much Ado About Nothing, RSC / Chichester 2016 (Don Pedro)
The Ferryman, by Jez Butterworth, Royal Court, 2017 (Tom Kettle)

CAROLINE QUENTIN
The Hypocrite by Richard Bean, RSC 2017
Relative Values by Noel Coward, Bath Theatre Royal 2013
Me & My Girl, Chichester, 2018

NATALIE DEW
Twelfth Night, Young Vic, 2018 (Olivia)
Venice Preserved, RSC 2019 (Aquilina)

SARAH TWOMEY
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017
The Seagull, Chichester, 2015
Platonov, Chichester 2015
Venice Preserved, RSC 2019

KEVIN N GOLDING
Hamlet, RSC 2016
King Lear, RSC 2016
Venice Preserved, RSC 2019