Synopsis First performed 1895. Mrs Cheveley attempts to ruin a politician's succesful career by producing incriminating evidence about his past. However, she hasn't reckoned on the faithfulness and good memory of his devoted wife.
In Wilde’s 1895 satire, Mrs Cheveley (Bond) attempts to ruin the career of politician Robert Chiltern (Alexander Hanson) by producing incriminating evidence about his past. However, she hasn't reckoned on the faithfulness and good memory of his devoted wife (played by Rachael Stirling), nor the assistance of his philandering friend Lord Goring (Elliot Cowan).
The satire has not been seen in the West End for over ten years following numerous productions of Peter Hall’s long-running revival which ran in a number of theatres for more than six years from 1992. Having opened last night (10 November 2010, previews from 2 November) the show is currently taking bookings until 19 February 2010.
Did this new revival of the classic 1895 comedy give critics a Wilde night?
"Lindsay Posner’s superb revival at the Vaudeville is a timely reminder of its sharp definition of troubles in private and political life ... Posner’s production reasserts the play’s Ibsenite classicism coated in a polished veneer ... Even at the time of its premiere, this must have sounded both satirical and prophetic, and the intervening century has done nothing to blunt the play’s cutting edge in its discussion of power, morals and marriage. Hanson and Bond are well matched by Rachael Stirling as Lady Chiltern and Elliot Cowan as Lord Goring in their sinuous arguments and witty debate. The setting in Grosvenor Square is beautifully designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis ... For once, you can honestly say that the West End has a classical production that would grace the stage of the National. Admirers of Downton Abbey on television will be thunderstruck by the quality of the script, the elegance of phrase and the architecture of thought and speech ... A wonderful evening."
"The play is unmistakably an attack on late-Victorian values ... Wilde's plot may be full of awkward contrivances but Posner's production does full justice to its genuine substance. Alexander Hanson brings out the posturing element in Chiltern's public virtue and his corresponding rage ... Rachael Stirling is equally powerful as the wife who realises she has worshipped a false idol ... Samantha Bond as the blackmailing Mrs Cheveley also looks handsome as hell in her silken gowns ... What you might call the Ibsenite side of Wilde's play, which involves exposing a marital life-lie, comes across excellently ... Elliot Cowan captures well the underlying sanity and goodness of Viscount Goring ... Heretical as it may be to say so, some of Wilde's comic riffs even come to seem a bit tiresome. There's a long passage in the second act when an elderly aristo, although well played by Caroline Blakiston, fires off her views about politics and society in a way that simply brings the play grinding to a halt ... At the climax as everything is resolved, one is reminded of the paradoxical truth of Borges's remark that 'the fundamental flavour of Wilde's work is happiness'."
Libby Purves The Times ★★★★
"This isn’t the most popular of Wilde’s plays, nor the slickest: elegant cynicism and farcical devices about wrong women behind doors, secret springs on bracelets and misunderstood letters sit uneasily next to rants about political ethics, love, idealism and forgiveness ... As so often with Wilde, one longs for an occasional dolt to vary the rhythm. Yet Lindsay Posner’s production works, even at three hours ... Disregarding odd first-night stumbles, the cast skip through the wordy epigrams, though none with quite as glorious relish as Caroline Blakiston, whose ten-minute ramble as Lady Markby won a mid-scene round of applause. Max Digby as Phipps the manservant displays an understated flounce which will carry him far. Samantha Bond as Mrs Chieveley makes a splendid adventuress ... Like all the women, she keeps the wardrobe department on its toes ... Yet some things are perennial: money, power, the dread of exposure in the press. 'Think,' sneers Mrs Chieveley to her victim, 'of their loathsome joy! Think of the hypocrite with his greasy smile, penning his leading articles...'”
Quentin Letts The Daily Mail ★★★★
"Director Lindsay Posner steers a perilous path between costume drama and pastiche but the second half is mad and masterly. Samantha Bond... is terrific as villainous Mrs Cheveley. And the night is made by a performance of rising frenzy from Elliot Cowan ... Elaborate sets match the hoity-toity characterisation ... Miss Bond’s arrival in 'far too much rouge and not quite enough clothes', injects pace ... Is Mrs Cheveley a spy? No, we are told. 'Spies are over. The newspapers do their work instead'. Mr Hanson plays things stodgy. He’s a great sucker of his front teeth, Comrade Hanson. Did much of it when he sang von Trapp in the Sound of Music ... As the dilemmas play out, Mr Cowan’s character, Lord Goring, acquires prominence. Mr Cowan springs about on his toes and as the plot reaches a vortex his shoulders become vulture-like in their tension ... Wilde is pretty horrible to women. They hector, gossip, bleat, betray. But is there something in his theory that they expect too much from husbands? Once they demanded honour. Today they want 'new men'. Lady Chiltern lives on, you know."
Charles Spencer The Daily Telegraph ★★★★
"Beyond the jokes, the plot twists and the blackmailing scarlet woman, there is little doubt that Wilde put a lot of himself and his own experience into this play ... When he wrote it, Wilde was already being blackmailed by rent boys ... Before the play's run was over, Wilde had been arrested and Reading Gaol awaited him ... Lindsay Posner's production captures the piece's mixture of sudden passages of emotional truth. Stephen Brimson Lewis' opulent design of Chilton's Grosvenor Square home leaves little doubt where at least some of the politician's ill-gotten money has gone. Alexander Hanson powerfully captures the politician's rising panic, and there are strong performances from Rachael Stirling as his prig of a wife and from Elliot Cowan. But the real star turn comes from Samantha Bond as the blackmailing Mrs Cheveley ... She brings a delicious vivacity and wit to the role, delivering her lines in a voice that is a mixture of honey and ground glass. Her squirming victim is played by Hanson, Bond's real life husband, adding a piquant twist to this richly entertaining evening."
Although Oscar Wilde’s second great comedy, An Ideal Husband was “re-discovered” twice in the 1980s – in severely contrasted, but equally fine productions by Peter Hall and Philip Prowse – Lindsay Posner’s superb revival at the Vaudeville is a timely reminder of its sharp definition of troubles in private and political life.
Often dismissed as too long and too melodramatic, Posner’s production reasserts the play’s Ibsenite classicism coated in a polished veneer: Alexander Hanson’s Sir Robert Chiltern, a rising political star in the Foreign Office, is cornered by Samantha Bond’s blackmailing Mrs Cheveley for having sold a Cabinet secret to another government.
Mrs Cheveley is keen to promote her own commercial interests at the expense of Sir Robert’s integrity: “Scandals used to lend charm, or at least interest, to a man – now they crush him. And yours is a very nasty scandal. You couldn’t survive it.”
Even at the time of its premiere, this must have sounded both satirical and prophetic, and the intervening century has done nothing to blunt the play’s cutting edge in its discussion of power, morals and marriage. Hanson and Bond are well matched by Rachael Stirling as Lady Chiltern and Elliot Cowan as Lord Goring in their sinuous arguments and witty debate.
The setting in Grosvenor Square is beautifully designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis as a gilded monument to wealth and privilege. For once, you can honestly say that the West End has a classical production that would grace the stage of the National. Admirers of Downton Abbey on television will be thunderstruck by the quality of the script, the elegance of phrase and the architecture of thought and speech.
The cast is strong all the way down, from Charles Kay’s dyspeptic grandee and Caroline Blakiston’s magnificent dowager (with one of Wilde’s greatest drawing room monologues) right through to Max Digby’s deliciously observed servant and Fiona Button’s pert society sibling. A wonderful evening.
Plus another half point for the performances, making 3.5! When I first saw this play, in a production by Peter Hall c.15 years ago, it fizzed; so much so that I went back to see it again when it returned to London after an extensive tour. It seemed to me to be so much better than the play most consider his best – The Importance of Being Ernest. For reasons I cannot fathom, in Lindsay Posner’s production the first half is ponderously slow – one of the longest ‘set up’s’ I can remember – whilst the second half zips along.
Oscar Wilde’s play may be 115 years old but if you ignore the settings and costumes, its thoroughly modern – unlike contemporaries like Chekhov or Ibsen, it has hardly aged. The story is rather timely – a corrupt act in the past comes back to haunt a rising star politician. The morals of the case are explored as the events unfold, but with Wilde’s usual sharp wit, satirising the upper classes along the way. Stephen Brimson-Lewis’ opulent gold set becomes three different rooms in the same house and with the insertion of a simple green wall transforms into a room in another house. With superb period costumes, it looks gorgeous and seems to me to capture the time and the society of the protagonists perfectly.
What makes this revival is brilliant casting. Samantha Bond is a suitably icy Mrs Cheveley, Rachel Sterling (looking mote like her mother than she ever has before) a moralistic Lady Chiltern and Alexander Hanson a somewhat ernest archetypal politician with an ability to change his stance and rationalise it seamlessly. The star of the show though is Elliott Cowan’s Viscount Goring, a brilliant and witty creation in full flight, and there are lovely cameos from Charles Kay, Caroline Blakiston and Fiona Button.
Such a shame the first two acts didn’t have the pace of the second two, but worth a look nonetheless.
- Gareth James
17 Jan 11
This is a very good play but, as frequently occurs, when seen at a matinee, the cast appear to be anxious to get it over and done with so that they can get their feet up before the evening performance. The director needs to pull them up because the text is very witty but not only must the audience be given a little time to get the jokes but the cast must actually act and not recite their lines in turn. Galloping through the script does nobody credit. Beautiful sets, wonderful lighting and costumes - Samantha Bond's body consciousness is terrific - elegance in every gesture. - Rebekkah
12 Jan 11
Lindsay Posner presents a magnificently staged and superbly acted revival of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband and yet I left feeling strangely dissatisfied. For once Wilde's flow of epigramatic wit seems forced, particularly in a play which could be described as a political thriller. The final act is contrived and Mrs. Chevely, brilliantly played by Samantha Bond, gives up her machinations too easily and disappears prematurely at the end of Act III. Those problems lie with the play itself but it is difficult to imagine how it could be done any better than this. - David Baxter
09 Dec 10
A GREAT EVENING OUT,VERY WITTY AND LOTS OF TWISTS AND TURNS.A SHADE LONG TO START BUT YOU HAVE TO INTRODUCE A VARIETY OF CHARACTERS.SAMANTHA BOND IS A VERY NASTY "BADDY" - STEVE
16 Nov 10
Guess, I saw a different production. The cast were forgetting their lines or saying the wrong words. Very disappointed in a production I had high hopes for. - KQ
16 Nov 10
Superb, Oscar would have enjoyed it. - Barry
15 Nov 10
I loved this play. Very sumptuous, very Wilde. A very good night out - HB
Opened 16 Apr 1870. Front re-constructed in 1890. 694 seats. Member of the Society of London Theatre. Each year there will be, from 1997, an Autumn to Spring Variety Season. The theatre is run by Max Weitzenhoffer.
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