“Handsome and bold — you are the man for my lady.” — Act V, Scene III

In Madrid, scandal is never far away. Don Carlos has lost more than his heart—he’s accidentally signed his fortune over to his mistress, Laura. Now, desperate to win it back, he teams up with his old friend Don Julio, whose return to the city sparks a tangle of flirtations and mistaken identities. 

Meanwhile, Olivia, a sharp-tongued heiress who refuses to be married off, keeps every suitor guessing—including her music-loving admirer and her exasperated father, Don Caesar. When her cousin Victoria arrives in disguise to reclaim her straying husband, secrets unravel, plans backfire, and love turns the city upside down.

From secret letters to midnight encounters, Hannah Cowley’s A Bold Stroke for a Husband is a witty whirlwind of scheming lovers, clever women, and social satire. This rediscovered comedy comes to the ASC through Expand the Canon, an initiative uncovering and uplifting overlooked classic plays by women.