An Ideal Husband

By Oscar Wilde

Directed By: Richard Monette

In memory of William Hutt

Stratford Festival Of Canada

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Runs: July 31^st to October 27^th 2007

Festival Theatre

5 Stars (and then some)

Reviewed by Kindah Mardam Bey

Ask any single woman what she wants today and she will tell you An Ideal Husband, however, somehow I don’t think she means the kind that Oscar Wilde cooked up in his play of the same name. Look no further for An Ideal Husband, whether you are single, married, or whatever fashion you are attached or unattached in, as I have found one at this years’ Stratford Festival of Canada and it has something to do with the last show of Richard Monette’s tenure as Artistic Director. Positively, unequivocally, without a doubt the best production at this year’s Stratford Festival of Canada is Richard Monette’s final tip of the top hat to his audience, and what a way to end with a stunning rendition of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband!

Wilde’s final play, An Ideal Husband is about Sir Robert Chiltern’s past indiscrepancies returning to his now well groomed life of politics. Chiltern is known for being an upright man in government and everyone believes it to be so, except for a mysterious woman known as Mrs. Cheveley who has a letter to prove otherwise. This letter and power of persuasion that Mrs. Cheveley holds in her grasp is a political power tool for her that could destroy Chiltern’s career. His wife has no knowledge of Robert’s past dealings and has placed her husband on a rather high and unstable pedestal soon to collapse. Robert confides in his best friend Lord Goring, a well-to-do spiv known in social circles for his charm and lack of ambition. Mabel Chiltern, Robert’s sister is madly in love with Lord Goring, meanwhile Goring sets his hat to helping Robert with his dilemma. A case of delicate balances and miscommunications makes this a delightful play to watch on any occasion. Of course dialogue such as ‘I always pass on good advice. It is the only sensible thing to do with it’ makes this play delightfully entertaining to watch.

I was swept up in costumes, dialogue, sets and some rather dashing male performances and many ladylike performances. The set was lightly dressed with candelabras, love seats, stained glass panels and champagne, champagne and more bubbly champagne! The set was just enough to evoke Victoriana without the overindulgence in the paraphernalia of the time. A detail that was most pleasant was watching the set changes as all the cast mulling around the set rearranging the stage were decked out in housemaid and butlers costumes. 

The costumes were more than vibrant and stunning details; Francois St-Aubin brought a resplendent combination of upper-class Victorian fashion paired with a present day colour palette. What appeared was a striking array of pink and black gowns, various shades of purple and lavender gowns, rich chocolate browns and steel greys. A spectacle in itself, the costumes would have done a scene from My Fair Lady and made Cecil Beaton proud. The men were decked out in costume and elegance as well, with stunning grey suits as backdrops for white gloves and fresh cut roses on lapels. Yes, the men were dandy’s and the lady’s were dahlings.

Much of the cast from this year’s Comedy of Errors were in An Ideal Husband, both productions are directed by Monette and both plays had two lead male characters playing off each other, and yes you guessed it, performed by the same two male actors in both productions. I’m sure this cast has worked endlessly with each other over the last eight months or so and have become quite like family (in all the good and bad aspects I’m sure!), and it shines through in the chemistry of the actors on stage. Complete synergy is between Tom McCamus and David Snelgrove, playing Sir Robert Chiltern and Lord Arthur Goring respectively. These two men play best friends and act as though they have been life long friends in reality. Whether that is true or not is beside the point, which is that they make the audience feel as though they have performed across from each other for a lifetimes’ worth of plays already.

Tom McCamus seems to embody Chiltern’s desire to be a good man and a successful man, even though he got to where he is with questionable means that are being exploited. An absolute cad and delight to watch was David Snelgrove’s Goring as he seems to play an arrogant and self-absorbed man who is perfectly alright with such flaws, so very well. Snelgrove’s tongue-in-cheek nature to performance has proved him rather delightful in both Comedy of Errors and particularly in An Ideal Husband this year. His polished good looks, and witty, comedic, self-indulgent type humour (I’m sure that bit is acted, of course!) made Snelgrove an ideal fit to be the ideal husband for Miss Mabel Chiltern.

Speaking of which, if you have read my King Lear review or my Merchant Of Venice review you will already know that I think Sara Topham is an absolute gem to the stage. She continually performs to absolute perfection in every detail of her characters, and was no different as Mabel. Topham is as graceful as a ballet dancer and as elegant as a silver screen star.

From courtesan (Comedy Of Errors) to penultimate lady in An Ideal Husband, Brigit Wilson was stunning and gave a heart wrenching performance with her pleas of love and honourability to her husband. 

Of course, one character should put all this good humour aside and make substance of Wilde’s play, and this task lay in the hands of Mrs. Cheveley played by Dixie Seatle. Performance aside for the moment, and back to the costumes, I delighted every time I saw Mrs. Cheveley and her contrasting costumery to the rest of the cast. A particularly standout dress was unveiled from a sweeping cape; both done in black and royal purple, Mrs. Cheveley looked like the embodiment of Maleficent in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. It was a stunning and well thought out collection of costumes on Fracois St Aubin’s part in regard to the character of Mrs. Cheveley. Acting along the same lines as Maleficent, Seatle performed the blackmailing Mrs. Cheveley to terrifying perfection. The shake down Seatle does as Mrs. Cheveley to McCamus’ Sir Robert Chiltern was almost gory to watch. A stunning, delicious and nasty performance, just as it should be, from Dixie Seatle. 

I would virtually have to write a role call of the cast to truly say how many of the performers were fantastic. Bruce Dow, in everything he has been this year, including Goring’s butler in An Ideal Husband is played with so much intelligent humour that he reminds me of when John Cleese doesn’t say anything but acts out his humour. You end up with having side stitch from laughing with both Dow and Cleese. Chick Reid as Lady Markby received innumerable applause after each session on stage. My only criticism and it is far too small to be of any concern, was the accents at the first scene; a little too over the top even for such a play, sounding less like snobby wealthy British women and more like nasal congestion. However, that was fleeting and possibly done by only two of the smaller parts played.

Another fabulous addition to An Ideal Husband was when the set changes were taking place on the balcony a beautiful Victorian parlour song was sung on two occasions - an absolutely delightful detail. Even how the men sung the songs was in the vocal style of that time for stage performers. A classy touch.

What is Wilde without wit? The play abounds with wit and savage comments relegated to the intelligence of Wilde’s thought-process. Airing Wilde’s productions, including this last one at the Stratford Festival of Canada, reminds us of how intelligent Wilde was and how we can sit and enjoyably admire his genius for three hours. Of course Wilde’s words will wonder down the crevices of your mind, ruminate and burst out of your vocal chords in the sound of laughter with this productions chemistry and comedic timing. An Ideal Husband had the most audience participation and outright laughter I’ve seen at this years Stratford season. Rightly so, as performances, costumes, sets and stunning dialogue made this the best of a great season at this year’s Stratford Festival.

I would see this production of An Ideal Husband every performance if I could! An ideal finale for Mr. Monette and tribute to the career of Mr. Hutt.

Artistic credits
Director / RICHARD MONETTE

Set Designer / MICHAEL GIANFRANCESCO
Costume Designer / FRANÇOIS ST-AUBIN
Lighting Designer / KEVIN FRASER
Composer / PAUL SHILTON
Sound Designer / WADE STAPLES The cast
Harold / PAUL AMOS
Vicomte de Nanjac / SEAN ARBUCKLE
Phipps, Earl of Derby / BRUCE DOW
Duchess of Marlborough / RAQUEL DUFFY
Lady Jane Barford / SHANNON EIZENGA
Duke of Marlborough / ELI HAM
Tommy Trafford / JACOB JAMES
James / RON KENNELL
Mrs. Marchmount / SOPHIA KOLINAS
Mr. Montford / JEAN-MICHEL Le GAL
Sir Robert Chiltern / TOM McCAMUS
Mason / BRIAN McKAYLady Markby / CHICK REID
Mrs. Cheveley / DIXIE SEATLE
Mr. Barford / ROGER SHANK
Lord Arthur Goring / DAVID SNELGROVE
Countess of Basildon / SEVERN THOMPSON
Mabel Chiltern / SARA TOPHAM
Earl of Caverson, K.G. / BRIAN TREE
Lady Chiltern / BRIGIT WILSON

Also Appearing:
GARETH POTTER (Understudy) Associate Director / TIMOTHY ASKEW

Stage Manager / NORA POLLEY
Assistant Stage Managers / BRUNO GONSALVES, CORINNE RICHARDS
Production Assistant / KRISTOPHER WEBER
Production Stage Manager / MAGGIE PALMER