Students bring Restoration period back to life in stage play
Twenty-one Palm Beach State College theatre students will take to the stage Oct. 15-17, donning 16th century fashions for a comedic play to portray life during the Restoration period.
The play, titled “The Country Wife,” was written in 1675 by William Wycherley and takes place during the time when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under King Charles II.
The show, directed by Associate Professor David Hyland, will be at 8 p.m. Oct. 15-17 and 2 p.m. Oct. 17 in the Duncan Theatre. Tickets are $12. Students, staff and faculty are admitted for $5 with ID.
One of the prominent themes of the show is on outward appearances.
“During the restoration period, people were fixated on style and honor,” said Hyland. “People cared greatly as to how they looked to others. If someone were to go to the theatre during that time, he or she would be more concerned about being seen then actually watching the show.”
The show also deals with the dynamics of marriage. During that time, people chose to marry based on their status in society rather than on love.
“You’ll see a lot of power struggles between our married characters and those characters trying to sneak around with people other than their spouses,” said Hyland.
PBSC student Alex Long plays the character named Pinchwife, a middle-aged man who decides to marry a country woman in the hopes that she will not be clever enough to know how to cheat, but his extremes in preventing her exposure to men leads to his downfall.
“It has been so much fun to play this character because he is the extreme opposite of me being that he is such a jealous and resentful man,” said Long. “Productions like this give me the chance to play these very unlikable characters to the fullest but in the best way because you’re just acting.”
Each semester, the PBSC Theatre Department features two productions – one in the fall and one in the semester. The program is run by Hyland, who is IMBD credited and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from Ohio State University. His has served in numerous roles, including as a voice actor, stage actor, director and owner of an improvisation group (MOD 27) and Take Heed Theatre company.
