The Country Wife

The City of London. The randy seventeenth century. Harry Horner wants to seduce as many women as possible, but he needs to convince their husbands that he’s physically incapable of any such thing. Cannily, his faux impotence also allows him to sniff out and unmask those respectably virtuous ladies who secretly ache for him.

But this virile villain hasn’t reckoned with Mr. Pinchwife’s sexy young spouse Margery, fresh from the rather too plain-speaking countryside.

Widely regarded as one of the filthiest and funniest plays ever written, William Wycherley’s The Country Wife has outraged and excited audiences for over 300 years (though not during the many years it was banned from both stage and print) and today still casts a provocative light on sexual mores.

Jonathan Munby returns to Chichester following his huge success with King Lear (Festival 2017, West End 2018) and First Light (Festival 2016). Recent work also includes his new production of Bryony Lavery’s Frozen in the West End.

Susannah Fielding makes her Chichester debut as Margery Pinchwife; her theatre work includes The Beaux’ Stratagem (National Theatre) and Portia in The Merchant of Venice (RSC).