The Double Dealer

Synopsis

London, 1693. A world of powdered wigs, elaborate costumes, and razor-sharp wit, where appearances are everything and everyone has an angle.

In the opulent halls of Lord Touchwood’s country house, a web of deceit unfolds. At its centre stands Maskwell, the titular double dealer, a man whose very name speaks to his duplicitous nature. With a silver tongue and a heart of stone, he manipulates the desires and weaknesses of those around him, all in pursuit of fortune and status. As Lady Touchwood schemes to seduce her nephew Mellefont, and young lovers navigate a minefield of misunderstandings, Maskwell plays them all like pawns in his grand design.

Congreve’s wit dissects the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of Restoration society with surgical precision. Through a labyrinthine plot of switched letters, overheard conversations, and mistaken identities, The Double Dealer exposes the gulf between public faces and private desires. As the characters dance their intricate minuet of deception, the play asks: in a world where everyone wears a mask, can true love and honesty prevail?