School For Wives

I was delighted to attend an excellent production of The Seagull last year and, at that time, warmly welcome the Magdalene Players to NODA London District 5. As a result of that initial visit, and its success, I was greatly looking forward to attending their Spring 2025 production of Molière’s The School for Wives. First staged in Paris in 1662, it is quite astounding how accessible the bold themes and penetrating insights found within this work remain—resonating with modern audiences some 350+ years later.

The School for Wives centres around a wealthy businessman named Arnolphe, who generally disdains women and is intensely paranoid about marrying someone who will cheat on him and make a fool of him. His solution is to buy a young girl named Agnès from a destitute woman and promptly send her to a convent. There, she is to be raised as the perfect future wife—naïve, simple, and ignorant of the real world. When Agnès reaches marrying age, her guardian (who has changed his name to Monsieur de la Souche to sound more noble) moves her into one of his houses in secret preparation for their wedding, keeping her imprisoned and isolated from outside influences. However, upon returning home from a trip, he soon discovers that Agnès has been receiving amorous visits from Horace, the young son of his friend Oronte. Unbeknownst to Horace, Arnolphe is actually the dastardly Monsieur de la Souche, and he unknowingly confides in him about his love for Agnès and his plan to rescue her from incarceration. As the story unfolds, the sheer absurdity of the situation becomes ever more hilarious—but how will things end?

Miriam Nice (Director) should be incredibly proud given all her time, effort, and lost sleep that must have gone into this production. The School for Wives is laced with quick-witted and fast-paced comedy that demands an extremely capable cast if it’s to be performed well. The selection here certainly didn’t disappoint. The challenging dialogue, entirely in verse, was clearly understandable and full of emotion and nuance. The set was well thought-out and uncluttered. A downstairs room with stairs and a front door was simple but effective. Using the front apron for the coffee shop/village square was a good idea and resulted in no set changes to delay the action. All characters were realistic and believable. This was a hugely entertaining and thoroughly absorbing piece of theatre that quickly drew the audience in and fully warrants recognition.

Congratulations to everyone at the Magdalene Players and especially to those directly involved with The School for Wives. This was another excellent production!

Best of luck in your forthcoming shows!

 

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