On 5 October we gathered in St Peter’s Anglican Church in Canterbury to read Aphra Behn’s 1673 play The Dutch Lover, under the direction of Stewart Ross.
It’s a long play with a massive cast, and attempting to read it with 13 people soon exposed how complicated and farcical it is. Prepare for a riot of mistaken identities, love triangles, less-than-impressive men, scheming maids and young ladies who manage to marry their beaus in the face of their families’ opposition. Plus some stolen infants, the revelation of whose true identities narrowly avoids some incestuous complications. The play is also phenomenally rude about the Dutch, which in the context of the third Anglo-Dutch War is hardly surprising.
Our unanimous verdict on the best line of the play: “[T]his marrying I do not like. ʼTis like going a long voyage to sea. One seldom sees a new object. ʼTis still a deal of sea, sea, husband, husband, every day …”
