Disguise and Design in The Rover

Joseph Roach, in his book Cities of the Dead (which is not what we read but is still fascinating), spends a chapter on the masquerading involved in Mardi Gras. He writes that carnival and the law, though seemingly at odds with one another, share formalistic qualities, specifically strict rules and procedures and the maintenance and transmission of cultural standards (p. 251). Does this idea have resonance in the masquerading that takes place in "The Rover"? [I'm thinking here about the fact that Don Pedro calls masquerading a "lewd custom to debauch our youth!" (3.5) but Blunt undercuts the virtue of the law by noting that "whoring's established here by virtue of the Inquisition!" (2.1).] Are law and license in unwitting cahoots in the world of "The Rover"?

The word "design" appears several times in this play, often in ways that I'm not used to; for example, the cast list tells us that Hellena is "a gay young woman designed for a nun." The play itself is highly designed, with minute stage directions (Willmore gazes on the picture - 2.1; Turns from her in rage, She turns with pride; he holds her - 2.2) as well as complex plotting and meet-ups. Does this attention to design suggest anything about change in the theater and the place of playwrights? Is this an historical moment in which playwrights cease to be part of the company and therefore need to exert control via the script? Does it make the plays more "literary"? And on the other side, given how Hellena defeats her nunly "design"-edness and Willmore is always undoing Belvile's well-laid plans, does the play suggest that real control through design is simple not possible, that the world (of the theater) is a place of chaos / madness / debauchery?!