In this late Restoration comedy Vanbrugh not only pushes the unhappilymarried couple, which had been good for no more than a raucous subplotin earlier comedies of manners, centre-stage - he also makes theaudience sympathise with the wife: The only thing Sir John and LadyBrute agree on is that they ought not to have married each other; nowhe spends his time in drunken debauchery with his cronies, while shetries to withstand the advances of her admirer Constant. After a seriesof farcical accidents involving cross-dressing and the eternallover-in-the-wardrobe, the couple end where they began. Since the scenein which Sir John disguises as a clergyman was deemed 'immoral andprofane', an alternative scene (in its way equally profane) waswritten, in which he disguises as his own wife. This edition providesboth versions and discusses the play's continuing popularity on thestage.