Something extraordinary and wonderful is happening on the Mainstage at The Court. Extraordinary because after all the years and in the face of contemporary brutalism, this filigreed piece of theatre – William Wycherley’s The Country Wife – still packs such impact; wonderful, thanks to direction from the masterly Elric Hooper, an inspired design team and an impeccable cast.

Forget the Restoration nightmares you probably stumbled through at school, struggling with the intricacies of verbal wit and intricate plot until the characters were nothing much more than a collection of insinuative names.

This production flies by and though the first half especially calls for concentration  to follow every turn of phrase and action, the work onstage is irresistible.

Underpinning the surface goings on, in which an innocent country lass is introduced to city life in all its licentiousness, is a strong statement about the pitfalls of loveless unions and the idiocy of the conventions which make them possible. Conventions have changed a little, but the human foibles which sustained them in Wycherley’s world, are as familiar as ever.

Naughtiness is always in fashion and as watchable as ever, especially got up in the brilliant costumes designed by Elizabeth Whiting.

How satisfying too, to read programme notes from the director that really illuminate both the creative choices made in production and significant facts about the play itself. Explanations about the influence of Moliere, the choice of incidental music from Charpentier and the tracking of  appropriate devices to convey period without unaffordable expense remind us of the depth of scholarship Elric Hooper brings with him. This first production for The Court since his departure in 2000 is worth the wait.

His cast defines the range of characters with elegant precision. Geoffrey Heath as Sir Jasper Fidget is a polished portrait of self delusion, well matched by Susan Curnow as his scheming and sophisticated lady. Horner, the falsely styled eunuch, whose lecherous appetite fuels most of the action, is the epitome of masculine glamour in the hands of Michael Edward and the foppish ninny Sparkish (Timothy Bartlett) furnishes a  delectable study in superficiality.

The key roles of Pinchwife and his Country Wife, Marjorie, are delivered in superb style by Ross Gumbley and Elsie Edgerton-Till. Pinchwife is all huff and puff, endowed with troublesome emotions at every turn and comically unable to do much about it. As Marjorie, and in her first appearance at The Court, Elsie Edgerton-Till glows with good health and robust, scarcely suppressed vitality .Her wide eyed, spontaneous responses to the sophisticated intrigues around her are both hilarious and a benchmark against which the excesses of society can be measured.

Sharply focused in its intentions and generously laced with theatricality, this production is decisive proof that the years need not dull a cutting edge or tarnish its sparkle.

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