This thesis offers an analysis of revivals of Restoration comedies featuring libertine heroes staged by subsidised, repertory theatre companies in England between the years 1986 to 2019. Using seven productions as examples, I examine the evolution of interpretations of the libertine hero over time, considering a range of directorial approaches. My study particularly focuses on directors’ use of three devices: adaptation, revival, and modernisation. These terms overlap throughout my study, and they are respectively defined as a creative reinterpretation of an existing work, a process wherein a classic play is reanimated and staged in such a way that it feels compelling to audiences, and the practice of altering aspects of a classic play to reflect contemporary details of the period in which the production is performed. The productions in my study include John Barton’s 1986 Royal Shakespeare Company revival of Aphra Behn’s The Rover (1677), Loveday Ingram’s 2016 Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of The Rover, Max Stafford-Clark’s 1994 Royal Court revival of George Etherege’s The Man of Mode (1676), which was paired with the premiere of Stephen Jeffreys’s history play The Libertine, Stafford-Clark’s 1993 Royal Shakespeare Company revival of William Wycherley’s The Country Wife (1675), Jonathan Munby’s 2018 Chichester Festival Theatre production of The Country Wife, and Philip Breen’s 2019 Royal Shakespeare Company revival of John Vanbrugh’s The Provoked Wife (1697). Like the range of productions covered in my thesis, my research spans a range of sources, including scholarly criticism on the libertine hero figure, filmed archival recordings of certain productions considered in this thesis, production photographs, production prompt books, play texts, and critics’ reviews of the productions. With my detailed study of these sources, I have reconstructed the specifics of the various performance interpretations. Throughout these productions, I have traced an evolution of directorial approaches to the figure of the libertine hero, from romanticisation to a willingness to engage with and condemn his potential for sexual violence and cruelty.
