Review: An Ideal Husband (White Bear Theatre)

Review by Oliver Briggs

⭐️⭐️

Oscar Wilde’s penultimate play, An Ideal Husband, wrestles with political corruption, blackmail, idealism and forgiveness, asking whether the past should define the present. Robert Chiltern, a rising politician, lives the picture of a perfect life with his wife, Gertrude, until a secret from his past surfaces, threatening everything. As he navigates blackmail, familial loyalties, and the sharply contrasting perspectives of allies and elders, including the charmingly cynical Lord Goring and the rigid Lord Caversham. The play balances wit with moral tension. Meanwhile, the innocent Mabel Chiltern introduces a softer counterpoint, her emerging romance underscoring Wilde’s exploration of desire, duty, and the consequences of ambition.

Produced by Broken Nose Theatre and directed by Ramin Gray, An Ideal Husband falls short of ideal at the White Bear Theatre. The intention was to strip back Wilde’s Victorian political drama and draw parallels with contemporary society. In practice, however, the production felt closer to a rehearsal-room read-through than a fully realised reimagining. I’m sure this is a purposeful choice, however, I can't quite wrap my head around the concept, which resulted in some mild confusion about the performance as a whole

As for the set and props, the stage was built up of two tables and seven wheelie chairs. Scattered across were scripts of the play, worn, used and tattered to different degrees, marked up with pencil and highlighter, presumably these were the scripts used by the actors during rehearsal for this very performance. Alongside these scripts were pencil cases, rolls of tape, waterbottles, all of which admittedly were used at points, in fun and unique ways. To create candles or jewellery. Overall, however, the set and props left a lot to the imagination of the audience, just as it would within a rehearsal room environment. This proved to do the play a disservice, however, as initially the context of the play led me to believe that it would have been a boardroom meeting that a politician may hold. This openness gestures towards metatheatre, asking the audience to actively construct meaning based on how power and authenticity have influenced themselves differently.

The direction of the performance also created an unfinished rehearsal room environment, where it felt like I would have been able to take notes and develop the piece to form a cohesive story. A lot of the performance was carried out, sat down in those aforementioned wheelie chairs, making the production feel unrefined and uncared for. Because the cast were glued to their seats, it limited the range in their characterisations, and I believe it held them back from harnessing the story's fullest reality. I lost any connection to any character and didn't really see anybody as a protagonist or antagonist. 

Admittedly, the chairs added an element of comedy to the play - watching as seven actors waddle around their serious and tense scenes, dragging their wheelie chair from place to place, not to mention a fairly well-choreographed wheelie chair fight sequence. At some point, however, I needed a more dynamic scene where the characters quite literally took a stand during the performance. Furthermore, holding all seven actors on stage during scenes that did not involve some characters created a messy and unfocused performance that lost my attention as visual background noise interrupted the connection between the characters in the scene.

Despite some of these challenges, the cast delivered strong performances, several of which were out of this world. Anastasia Velikorodnaya as Laura Cheveley had me hooked, filling her character with a lot of smug wit. Despite Cheveley being the play’s antagonist, because of the drive and determination behind her performance, I wanted her to succeed. She made me feel as though Laura Cheveley had a reason to be going after Robert in such a way - not only this, but she proved to be a hilarious act, maintaining the audience's attention and effectively making her character more and more likeable. Though maybe not Wilde’s original thoughts for the character, it makes sense with a look at how a contemporary audience may respond to the current political and social climate.

Another brilliantly gaze-grabbing performance came from Lizzie MacGregor as Gertrude Chiltern, a sort of victim to Robert Chiltern and Laura Cheveley’s antics. Her character goes through so much emotional toil and burden because of other people's poor decisions, despite having nothing to do with Mr Chiltern’s past decisions; it is clear through her acting choices that she is one of, if not the, most affected by them. I felt the most engaged and attentive towards her performance because even when her character was not a part of the scene, she maintained her emotion. And as far as a rehearsal room goes, she would be the only one giving it her all through every run of the performance.

Though it may not have gone through the most ideal execution, there are aspects in this production of An Ideal Husband that stand out to make it an enjoyable watch - notably, its strong cast. An uncanny relevance to a developing, contemporary audience makes it a worthy watch for those who are hot on present-day-politics. 

An Ideal Husband plays at White Bear Theatre until 11th January. Tickets from https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/an-ideal-husband?b=book 

Photos by Alina Saffron