The Country Wife

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman

Classical Theatre Lab at Kings Road Park

Through October 23

William Wycherley’s The Country Wife premiered in 1675. Charles II had then been on the throne for 15 years and his libertine court was in full swing. Wycherley’s play about a womanizing trickster who pretends to be a eunuch so he might go around seducing married women without provoking their husband’s suspicions fits neatly into the prevailing humor of the time.

This revival by the Classical Theatre Lab under Suzanne Hunt’s direction is moderately successful. It features Michael Hovance as Mr. Horner, the enterprising seducer who gets his buddy, a quack doctor (James Loren), to spread the word of his “impotence.” One person who swallows the tale hook, line and sinker is a Mr. Fidget (Donald Wayne), a smug curmudgeonly fellow who snickers every time he thinks of Horner’s (supposedly) unhappy status — and so feels free to leave his wife (Jean Gilpin) and sister (Virtic Emil Brown) in Horner’s company.

An equal opportunity lover, Horner is happy to take advantage of Fidget’s complacency by wooing and screwing Mrs. Fidget behind her husband’s back. But he’s also intensely attracted to the charms of the title character, Mrs. Margery Pinchwife (Rebecca Lincoln), a very young woman married to a much older man (Alexander Wells), who keeps her locked up for fear that she will attract other men.

And his suspicions are not without foundation. Fresh from the country, Margery is straining at the bit to learn more about city rules, so she can flout them. She’s very taken with Horner and he with her. But unlike Mr. Fidget, Mr. Pinchwife remains an intensely jealous spouse, and accessing Margery takes more complex finagling on Horner’s part.

Genial and charming for all his craftiness, Hovance ‘s Horner is a likable presence and enjoyable to watch as he goes about creating fun for himself and problems for other men. Wayne is also amusing as the cackling Mr. Fidget. But many of the other performances are either too broad or too strained to hold one’s attention, and the overall effect is a talky experience.

Kings Road Park, 1000 N. Kings Rd., West Hollywood; Sat.-Sun. 3 p.m.; through Oct. 23. Running time: 85 minutes with no intermission.