An Ideal Husband

I recently went to see Playlover's latest production, "An Ideal Husband" and, unfortunately, was rather disappointed. There were a number of elements to the play, and individual performances, that I enjoyed, but as a whole I found myself more than a little bored - which I heard someone remark, was surprising for an Oscar Wilde play.

My first impression of Playlover's "An Ideal Husband" before the curtains even opened was "Great set!" I know it can be a theatre faux pas to praise a play's set following the production but it was truely exquisite. The antique furniture, chaise lounges, carved fireplace and sweeping ballroom floor were delightful. A lot of time, effort and attention to detail had gone into the set, and I honestly felt that it was well worth it.

However, while I loved the look of the set, setting any action on the ballroom floor and not on the stage, while good in theory DID NOT work due to the lack of teired seating. When the actor's first descended the stairs I could see their shoulders and heads. When they sat down to carry on conversations, I could see nothing. I wasn't sitting far from the front and for 15-20 minutes I could only hear voices.

I liked the hairstyles but I thought the costuming was a little mish-mashed. Some of the costumes in the initial ballroom scene looked more like a Southern Belle's party attire, and I don't think sequins played a large part in the Wilde era. However, I understand the time, convenience and monetary restrictions on costuming a large cast, especially in regards to a period play. It was just a shame that the costumes added an artificiality to the opening scene, especially when the set was so authentic.

I felt that greater attention should have been paid to the English diction of the cast. I never realised how important proper English diction could be in a Wilde play until I had a director constantly impressing on me that it is "orften" not "often", and "orf" not "off". Posture, especially in the female cast, was another area I noticed. Many of the women in the play tended to "sway" across the stage - hips swishing, shoulders back, stomachs out, and with a distinct "sway" in their bodies. This is a rather modern means of movement and from what I understand, women strapped into corsets in those days rarely "swayed" - they had impeccable posture. These may seem like small points but I really felt that they would have added that extra level of sophistication to the play. It's amazing what can be "lorst" in an actor's performance simply through their lack of diction and appropriate carriage in posture.

In terms of casting, unfortunately, I thought that the age difference onstage between Mrs Cheveley and Lady Chiltern was too wide for it to be convincing that they once went to school together. And Sir Robert Chiltern seemed a little young to have been a 40-something man, who had been building his career in politics for years.

I enjoyed the performance of Lord Goring - who bears an uncanny resemblance to Oscar Wilde. He had a beautifully languid delivery. Many of the play's most amusing lines, unfortunately, lost a great deal of their humour from actor's groping for lines, running their lines too fast, not being visible, or delivering them as if they were a joke. The lines may be humorous but I remember someone once told me that some of the best humour in Wilde's plays comes from the characters' serious deliver and genuine belief in what they are saying. Lord Goring had that wonderfully serious delivery of some ridiculous statements that always made the audience laugh.

I thought that Sir Robert Chiltern needed to build his emotions more slowly. His jumps from one emotion to the next were a little too extreme - especially in Act 2. I also noticed he had a habit of very suddenly placing his hands on his hips and then dropping them down a split second later, which was more noticeable when he was angry. This was very distracting at times.

My first impression of Miss Mabel was that she was extremely pretty but she moved much too much. She was one of the biggest "swaying" offenders, which became even more noticeable when she was in the presence of Lord Goring. I also thought her delivery was far too animated. She has some very funny lines during her conversations with Lady Chiltern, which received a few laughs but I could see that she would have gotten many more if she had toned her performance a bit - it was just a little over the top.

Lady Chiltern - aside from her age gap with Mrs Cheveley - played her character a little too unlikeable for my tastes. I sat in the audience thinking "of all the snooty, self-righteous people!" I had no sympathy for Lady Chiltern when her husband accused her of ruining his life. I thought "Good, got what she deserves!" Which was a shame because I really felt her character should have the audience's sympathy - Lady Chiltern should be idealistic and naive, not self-righteous and unlikeable.
Also, Lady Chiltern was a little wooden in her body language. She had a very expressive face but none of this seemed to reach the rest of her body, particularly in the more dramatic scenes. Although she was one of the women with the best posture onstage.

The Vicomte gave a wonderful performance - he even upstaged at times. It's not a huge role but he played it wonderfully - great characterisation.

I thought that the character of Mrs Cheveley needed more of an edge to her - particularly in those initial scenes. And needed to put a little more variance of emotions in her speeches. I found myself tuning out in the scene where she was blackmailing Sir Robert.

I also didn't like the "ballet" scene change. While the dancer was very talented, not only was it a little out of left-field but a lot of the dance may have been lost on the audience because unless you were in the front row, all you could see was her shoulders and head moving. So, the dance was a little wasted, although I understand that it was done to detract attention from, what I'm assuming was, a long scene change.

Sadly, I was very disappointed with the play. I found myself bored, which made the play seem even longer than it actually was. This was such a shame because Wilde should never be boring, and I was really looking forward to seeing "An Ideal Husband". But as I said, there were individual performances and elements that I did enjoy and some that I didn't, but it's all subjective.

K. Wallace