PSST! Hey guys… This is a great date show! Take your significant other, or even that cutie you’re currently interested in to this play. Why? The biggest reactions to this show on the night I saw it came from the ladies in the audience. Both laughs and cries. It’s a “chick” play, and you need to capitalize on it while there are still some performances left.
The show is centered around Sir Robert and Lady Gertrude Chiltern (played by Patrick Gibbs and Sarah Modesto). A politically active couple who seem to be above reproach or scandal. Enter Mrs. Cheveley (played by Jennifer Mason), who holds in her hands, from her late husband, evidence that Sir Robert used his political position to make money off of the Suez Canal. A scandal that would ruin Sir Robert’s political career and his marriage unless he does as Mrs. Cheveley says.
And it wouldn’t be an Oscar Wilde play unless the wisest person in the show was a dilettante playboy, and you have that in the character of Lord Arthur Goring (played by Geoff McCombs), whose friendship with the Chilterns and flirtatious relationship with Sir Robert’s sister, Mabel (performed by Jessica Montgomery), and previous love of Mrs Cheveley puts him in the middle of this political intrigue.
The play is filled with witty observations (just as applicable today as they were in the Victorian era) and both humorous and dramatic moments. And like most Wilde plays, the theme is “honesty is the best policy”, which naturally the characters only learn about towards the end of the show.
The play is set, appropriately, in the Victorian era, and had accurate costuming, sets and props. Though it wasn’t perfect, it didn’t distract me from enjoying the show, though I feel that Mr. Gibb’s costumes could have been better tailored to him, and the makeup worn by Julie Benedict (in her role of Lady Markby) to make her look older, needed to be better blended, particularly her forehead lines.
The play had many outstanding performances, particularly by the leads, but it did take them a short time to warm into them. This was likely due to fatigue from an earlier matinee performance. Once they did catch their stride (and a responsive audience helped that), the show became absolutely delightful.
Standing out in this production were the performances of Patrick Gibbs and Sarah Modesto as the Chilterns. Patrick patterned his accent appropriately after Winston Churchill, and gave a heartfelt performance as a man who is watching the perfect world he has created unravel over a youthful indiscretion. Sarah gives a wonderful performance as both a strong and supportive wife. In the scene where Sir Robert gives his famous speech about women putting too much admiration on a man’s best behavior rather than letting all of his faults be part of what they love, I kept watching Modesto’s face, and could see so much going on behind her eyes.
Jennifer Mason gives a strong performance as Mrs Cheveley, and doesn’t let her character get one-sided. She may be currently blackmailing Sir Robert, but you can see that’s just one facet to her.
And although they only appear in the first scene, I have to give props to the performances of Rebecca Martin and Kelly Joyner as Lady Basildon and Mrs. Marchmont. They had the most immediate connection to each other and to the audience. They were both our Greek chorus and our entryway into this world. These roles could have been easily dismissed or even cut by the director and I’m glad director Joey Calkins decided not only to keep the characters in the show, but to cast these two talented actresses in those parts.
So do yourself a favor and get yourself and your significant other tickets to see this classic play before it closes.
Draper Historic Theatre Presents Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband”. Performs March 4-26. Curtain at 7 PM. Tickets available for remaining performances at: http://www.buyyourtix.com/tickets/DraperTheatr/husband
