*The Country Wife* at UI, Oct. 4-8

William Wycherley's 1671 comedy, directed by Paul Kalina
Univ. of Idaho's Kiva Theater, Moscow, Idaho
Wed.-Sat., Oct. 4-7, at 7:30 pm; Sunday, Oct. 8, at 2 pm
Tickets: $10; $8, seniors; $5, students, faculty and staff

Jack Horner spreads the rumor that he's a eunuch so that foolish, elderly husbands like Mr. Pinchwife will allow Horner to hang out with pretty young things like Pinchwife's country-bred, naive little wifey, Margery.

Kalina, a professional clown, has studied theater design with the likes of Ming Cho Lee. But with only a $300 production budget, what to do for all those opulent Restoration costumes and furnishings? Improvise: Make chandeliers out of plumbing pipes and silverware; combine a Restoration bodice with bags for sleeves and old sweat pants for bloomers. The court of Charles II was full of shining surfaces and corruption underneath — maybe Kalina is just rationalizing when he claims that that's what his design scheme is supposed to highlight, but he may be onto something.