The Country Wife

The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun. It is based on several plays by Molière, with added features that 1670s London audiences demanded: colloquial prose dialogue in place of Molière's verse, a complicated, fast-paced plot tangle, and many sex jokes. It turns on two indelicate plot devices: a rake's trick of pretending impotence to safely have clandestine affairs with married women, and the arrival in London of an inexperienced young "country wife", with her discovery of the joys of town life, especially the fascinating London men.

The scandalous trick and the frank language have for much of the play's history kept it off the stage and out of print. Between 1753 and 1924, The Country Wife was considered too outrageous to be performed at all and was replaced on the stage by David Garrick's cleaned-up and bland version The Country Girl, now a forgotten curiosity. The original play is again a stage favourite today, and is also acclaimed by academic critics, who praise its linguistic energy, sharp social satire, and openness to different interpretations.

The Country Wife (The Green Green Grass)

"The Country Wife" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, The Green Green Grass. It was first screened on 23 September 2005, as the third episode of series one.

Synopsis

Marlene tries her hand at country cooking, despite the warnings from her husband and her son. She demands Boycie goes and picks some berries of the many bushes in their fields even though he is reluctant to do so Boycie takes the basket and leaves. Whilst Boycie is picking berries he meets their next door neighbor - the mad Welsh man, Llewellyn who holds a shotgun to his head whilst giving a lecture about Wales.

Llewellyn latter holds Rocky for ransom when he wanders onto his land. Boycie then seeks legal advice and is told that he has to pay the mad Welsh man.

Episode cast

Production, broadcast and reception

Writing

This episode was written by John Sullivan, writer of Only Fools and Horses. The whole of the first series was written entirely by John Sullivan.

Broadcast

During its original airing, the episode had a viewing audience of 5.86 million, in the 9pm timeslot it was shown. This is the same audiences that sitcoms such as My Family attract.

Rural area

In general, a rural area or countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. The Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines the word "rural" as encompassing "...all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural."

Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas are commonly rural, though so are others such as forests. Different countries have varying definitions of "rural" for statistical and administrative purposes.

North America

Canada