Word: sparkish
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...wife shut away from the temptations of the town prove ineffectual in deterring his wife's simple-minded quest for a good time. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of subplots and subthemes, including the rake Harcourt's wooing of Pinchwife's sister, Alithea, away from her foppish fiance, Sparkish...
...supporting cast is also, by and large, excellent. Dan Strickler as Fidget is a perfectly dotty old lord (though he is upstaged by the pug Pekinese he carries onstage), and Peter Haydu shines as the mincing fop, Sparkish...
...like, which is not so much a comment on their ignorance as an example of the changes in humor over 300 years. Cuckold jokes were a scream in 1675, but they are an anachronism now. Moreover, words don't mean the same things now as they did then. When Sparkish calls Horner "the sign of a man" after a long discussion of the street signs in the neighborhood, he is referring to Horner's supposed sexual malady, "sign" meaning the shadow of a man. Uh, right...
...envy Horner's success. Rex Everhart, as Sir Jasper, is foolish enough but lacks class, and should be told that the game is blindman's-buff, not blindman's-bluff. David Rounds, with beauty spots on his right chin and left cheek, has great fun with the role of Sparkish, a fop (who has a counterpart in most Restoration comedies), wielding a lorgnon and indulging in an affected speech that suggests a male Edith Evans. These characters and all the others benefit from Jane Greenwood's gorgeous period costumes...
...Sparkish, Christopher Harding speaks in a falsetto and moves with a flourish which fully exploit the affectations of his role. He offers an excellent contrast to Pinchwife, played by Richard Minturn, who makes his face a sour, frowning mask that states his personality. Pinchwife is as overly protective of his wife's honor as Sparkish is negligent of Alithea's. Keeping his country wife under lock and key. Pinchwife confidently declares, "I understand the town." The audience takes enormous delight when the young, inexperienced Margery defeats the old coot, who thinks himself so wise...