The characters are split between the sheep and the wolves, who seem to include almost all of the male citizens of this unnamed provincial European town; lust is epidemic. The people are treated as a faceless horde, forever perched on the roof of the couple's farmhouse, peering through peepholes and, later, chasing Miss Schneider overhead, across a screenlike surface. Eventually the author makes a horrifying statement about the husband's hypocrisy; he is not only insane, he is evil, a Tartuffe in spite of himself. However, Mr. Crommelynck's broad strokes place him far away from Moliere.

Giving unity to the production is Mr. Jenkins, a stalwart member of the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, where he most recently gave a striking performance as Hickey in ''The Iceman Cometh.'' In ''The Magnificent Cuckold'' he manages to find a sweet reasonableness in his man's mania, never accelerating into hysteria. Acting in the manner of a misguided general, he is forever analyzing a situation and coming to the wrong conclusion: if one villager is reluctant to ravage Mr. Jenkins's wife, then he must be the true cuckolder. The actor makes us realize that even the most outrageous fanaticism can be made to appear rational.

Mr. Jenkins is especially enlightening in his scenes with Mr. Bulos, bullying his subordinate, misinterpreting every response and not allowing for any alternate opinion. The expressive Mr. Bulos responds with wide-eyed abashment. As the wife, Miss Schneider keeps an angelic composure even as she is attacked by a mob and covered with feathers.

The colorful set by Steve Saklad is like a pop-up picture-book gingerbread house. Mr. Jurasas's staging, using a translation by Marnix Gijsen, tries, with mixed results, to bridge the Crommelynck chasm between bucolic fable and mordant social satire. There is one curious coincidence: several times the male chauvinist husband has to stand at the bottom of a staircase and call up to his wife in their bedroom. He bellows her name, which happens to be ''Stella!'' The Cast THE MAGNIFICENT CUCKOLD, by Fernand Crommelynck; translated by Marnix Gijsen; directed by Jonas Jurasas; setting by Steve Saklad; costumes by Martha Kelly; lighting by Rick Butler; music composed by Rusty Magee. Presented by the Yale Repertory Theater, Lloyd Richards, artistic director. At New Haven. Stella .................................Jana Schneider Cornelia ................................Melissa Smith Romanie ..................................Becky London Florence ...................................Eve Gordon Cowhand ..................................Earl Hindman Count ..................................Richard Levine Young Man ............................Vytautas Ruginis Bruno .................................Richard Jenkins Estrugo ...................................Yusef Bulos Mayor ..................................William Mesnik Petrus .................................Bern Sundstedt Florence's Husband ......................Gary Basaraba Ensemble David Berman, Jeff Ginsberg, Kathleen Reiter, Melissa Smith, Scott Rickey Wheeler and David Wiles Musicians ..............Rusty Magee and Lora Gingerich