THE School For Wives begins an extensive run at The Nuffield Theatre in Southampton from Thursday, April 14.

Moliere's fourth play was first staged in the 1660s, and the French playwright himself starred as the central character of Arnolphe.

Revolving around a sleepy town in the South of France where all the women are beautiful and the men are invariably handsome, the play questions the notions of fidelity and marriage.

How is a man supposed to keep hold of a woman when there is so much temptation around?

One paranoid man thinks he has the answer.

He obsessively raises a girl in ignorance and bliss, in effect training her to become his seemingly 'perfect' wife.

According to his strategy, his wife should simply be too stupid and nave to even consider cheating on him.

But will his young wife's instinctive womanly wiles get the better of her devious middle-aged husband?

Directed by The Nuffield's artistic director, Patrick Sandford, this latest adaptation runs until May 17.

Tickets from £12. Box office: 023 8067 1771.