Review: The City Theatre’s An Ideal Husband

Dawn Erin as Mrs. Cheveley and Shane Cullum as Sir Robert Chiltern in An Ideal Husband (Photo by Steve Rogers)

An Ideal Husband is not Oscar Wilde's wittiest work. Most fans would agree that The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, and A Woman of No Importance top that list. While it, too, satirizes the behavior of Victorian high society and has its share of clever repartee, the 1895 comedy focuses its attention – all four acts of it – on political corruption, blackmail, and honor.

In a nutshell, Lady Gertrude Chiltern sees Sir Robert, a member of Parliament and one of the young leaders of the prime minister's coalition, as a perfect man and ideal husband. But, as a younger man, he secretly committed a professional indiscretion that has come back to haunt him courtesy of the unscrupulous Mrs. Cheveley. Though aggressively unapologetic, Sir Robert fears the ruin of both his career and his marriage. But Mrs. Cheveley has committed some transgressions of her own, the key to which is held by Sir Robert's charming, narcissistic, and – in old world vernacular – foppish friend, Lord Arthur Goring.

Several things about City Theatre's earnest but obtrusively low-budgeted production of this period piece will keep modern audiences engaged. Firstly, that even a lesser Wilde is an entertaining enterprise, particularly when the adapted version mercifully merges the four acts into three. It's still a long haul, but director Cris Skinner does a fine job moving the dialogue along at a rapid pace.

With that said, she does a disservice to the time and temperament reflected in Wilde's work by inexplicably having her cast turn the lyrics of Willie Nelson's "The Party's Over" into spoken dialogue during one scene change and sing along to Percy Sledge's 1966 recording of "When a Man Loves a Woman" during another. She also allows actor Zach Weiss to engage in distracting slapstick while playing the minor role of the manservant James.

Engrossing, though, is An Ideal Husband's relevance, particularly when looked at with 20/20 hindsight. While Wilde was writing this play about a private peccadillo turned very public, he himself was being blackmailed for his then-illegal homosexual activities. During the play's initial run in London, he was arrested for gross indecency. Five years later, age 46, he was dying in exile in Paris. And so, when we hear the condemned Sir Robert (a spot-on and sympathetic Shane Cullum) plea, "No one should be entirely judged by their past," it is a poignant evergreen moment. The play's sexual politics and the fun at the expense of the privileged "one-percent" are captivating as well.

While Wilde's comedies typically offer only a handful of likable characters, this one has none. Only the indolent bachelor Lord Goring (a one-trick John Waters), who heroically matches wits with Mrs. Cheveley and protects his friend's career and marriage, comes close. But the character is an odious fellow given his over-dependance on his father Lord Caversham's (a serviceable Steve Wright) wealth to secure his lavish lifestyle.

While the two female characters at the center of this play are not particularly likable, they are certainly the most intriguing because the gadfly Wilde gave them his most empowering soliloquies and pointed social commentary. As the morally absolutist Lady Chiltern, Sunshine Garrison balances the warmth and humanity required to be Sir Robert's true north and the steely demeanor necessary to be Mrs. Cheveley's nemesis. As the conniving Mrs. Cheveley, Dawn Erin's remarkable physicality – her confident strides, the way she owns the space she occupies, and her use of a fan as an extension of her right hand and wrong thinking – is a master class in period performance.

Actually, all the featured women in this play – Bonnie Lambert as the flirtatious but well-grounded ingenue Miss Mabel; Mindy Rast-Keenan and Susan Johnston Taylor as the delightfully superficial Mrs. Margaret Marchmont and Lady Olivia Basildon, respectively; and Miriam Rubin as the loquacious Lady Markby, who is supplied with many of Wilde's wittiest words – are a pleasure to watch.

Come to the Trinity Street Playhouse for a long-delayed and much-needed dose of Oscar Wilde. Stay to marvel at the women in this production.

The City Theatre's An Ideal Husband