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Review: ‘Ideal Husband’ is ideal Wilde
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Michael Butler and Julie Eccles star in “An Ideal Husband.”
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Recent headlines aside, political scandal is nothing new. The Larry Craigs and Eliot Spitzers of the world may provide juicy copy for today’s news, but no one wrote about the divide between public morality and private conduct with the wit, style and insight of Oscar Wilde, whose “An Ideal Husband” opened Saturday at the California Shakespeare Theater.
The 1895 comedy isn’t as often produced as the playwright’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” but many critics — including George Bernard Shaw — have considered it Wilde’s finest work. Jonathan Moscone, Cal Shakes’ artistic director, must think so too, because he’s given it a vibrant, thought-provoking and very funny new production.
At the center of the drama is the ambitious Sir Robert Chiltern (Michael Butler), whose sterling reputation on London’s political scene conceals a dark secret: early in his career, he traded insider government information for significant personal gain.
If society holds Chiltern in high esteem, his wife, the naïve Gertrude (Julie Eccles), worships him like a god, or the “ideal husband” of the title.
Wealth, position, taste and morality: Robert and Gertrude appear to have it all. But Wilde quickly dispenses with the illusion.
The blithe veneer of the opening scene — a party at the Chilterns’, inhabiated by upper-crust types trading bon mots in various stages of inebriation and ennui — is shattered when an old acquaintance, Mrs. Cheveley (Stacy Ross), arrives to blackmail Robert.
She offers him a deal. She’ll keep his secret if he’ll lend his support to a public deal he knows to be corrupt. If he refuses, she’ll destroy his name and poison his relationship with Gertrude.
The principal parts are well cast. Butler and Eccles bring just the right blend of upright reserve and emotional depth to their roles, and Ross is both menacing and wonderfully magnetic as the venomous Mrs. Cheveley.
Elijah Alexander brings an appealing physicality and keen comic timing to the role of Lord Goring, the Chilterns’ close family friend (as a stand-in for Wilde, the foppish Goring gets many of the play’s best lines.) Sarah Nealis exudes charm as Robert’s sister, Mabel, and L. Peter Callender is a delight as the curmudgeonly Lord Caversham.
The rest of the cast is just as strong, with Delia Macdougall, Nancy Carlin, Joan Mankin, Danny Scheie and Ted Barker adding wit and color in supporting roles as society dames and servants.
Moscone and his design team — Annie Smart (sets), Meg Neville (costumes), Scott Zielinski (lighting) and Jeff Mockus (sound) — give the production an opulent Victorian setting of rich interiors, flowing gowns and glittering gems.
And Wilde’s script, with one brilliant line after another, shines like a diamond. Moscone’s insightful staging includes a wealth of smart touches, including a wry twist on the play’s final scene. Yet the director never lets us forget the playwright’s central premise: that politics is a down and dirty business, regardless of the era.
IF YOU GO
An Ideal Husband
Presented by California Shakespeare Theater
Where: Bruns Amphitheater, Highway 24 at Gateway Boulevard exit, Orinda
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays; closes July 27
Tickets: $32 to $62
Contact: (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:22 PM MST on Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 re: "Performer gets risqué in new act"
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9:27 PM MST on Fri., Jul. 6, 2007
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re: "A trifle of a ‘Tempest’"
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10:45 AM MST on Wed., May. 30, 2007
re: "A harrowing choice at Theater J"
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9:33 PM MST on Mon., Apr. 23, 2007
re: "Shakespeare’s bloodiest"
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re: "Shaking up Shakespeare"
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Bessica said:
The government should get out of marriage entirely. Straight or gay, we need good family law to protect children, we need contracts for interdependent relationships. Marriage is an important institution. Rename the legal part something else for EVERYONE. Many GLBT on the site **bisexualmingle c o m** want the same-sex marriage.
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I thought it was a great production and both Alexa Ortega and Adam Barry were absolutely fantastic.
17 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The Government Inspector: Quite poorly done. Actors unprepared. Line delivery mishaps. Overpriced. Prop failure at the end. It reminded me of sequels such as Oceans v11 - v13, where a group of well known actors use their names to draw a crowd and sell tickets. Uk. The result is a mediocre performance, in part because of too many cooks -- and some of these cooks, e.g. Geoff Hoyle are really good. Hopefully this review will save someone else the time and money.
17 agree | 12 disagree
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Parkside Poulegene said:
Re: High School Musical I just took my daughter Sharmuta to this show and we had to leave early! When we got home I took away all her "High School Musical" CD's and tee-shirts. If she even mentions the show again she's grounded for a month, and that goes for her other mother too. This show is really racist, homophobic and pro-Zionist and pro-Bush-Terror. There's too many white people in it. This show needs to be shut down and outlawed.
13 agree | 13 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Thank you for the first honest review that I have read on this production. The length of Act two was tortuous to sit through.
386 agree | 333 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I bet the scene where Macbeth and Macduff are branishing their CLAYMORES is a hoot!
301 agree | 315 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Playing naked? Not really - the main character's body is covered by fur! As the reader before wrote the actor playing Macbeth is extremely hairy. It is quite strange to see how hairy a mans body can be... His body hair was the most impressing thing of the whole play.
325 agree | 294 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Bloody, Bold, Resolute, and Naked - AND HAIRY!!! I read an article that all actors were not allowed to shave any body hair three months before the play started to look "naturally". So it is impressive how hairy the actor playing Macbeth is - he has a furry chest and even a quite hairy back and bushy pubic hairs. It is very unusual today to see such a hairy actor fully nude, because normally an actor shaves at least his back hairs doing a nude scene on stage or in a movie... So big compliments to Daniel Eichner for presenting us his great furry body fully nude!
354 agree | 309 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Good review... one of the few critics able to articulate some of the problems with this show. I left at intermission and the lighting was troublesome. sometimes I wonder what the other critics are thinking --- if you are still curious fgo on Saturday afternoons when the tickets are "pay what you can."
389 agree | 347 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Munch claims "there is no denying" that the nudity in WSC's "Macbeth" "does little to enhance or elevate Shakespeare’s Scottish play." Well, the critics at www.PotomacStages.com and www.DCTheatreScene.com have taken the opposite view. Potomac Stages, in fact, wrote: "in no uncertain terms that this is a quality production that presents "the Scottish play" in a new and very effective light (or is that a new and very effective darkness?)." DC Theatre Scene wrote: "The actors’ nudity provides an extra dimension to their presentations...By being physically naked, these actors become emotionally naked as well. This production of Macbeth is a great gift to those who have the will to receive it. We are unlikely to see anything like it in the foreseeable future." So it seems the only thing there is no denying is that Munch doesn't speak for everyone.
406 agree | 315 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Tonight's performance of "Macbeth" started at 8:05 pm and was done precisely at 10:30. I'm not the best at math, but that seems like under 2 and half hours...not over 3 hours, which the critic claims the play to be.
392 agree | 357 disagree
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JaimeK said:
Shame Fat Pig wasn't given an actual review on the acting. There were some pretty phenomenal performances. Especially Erin Riley as Helen and Courtney Ryan as Jeannie. Very VERY good show.
518 agree | 406 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Closes in 4 days
450 agree | 401 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Why review it a few days before it closes and not mention its closing in the review?
442 agree | 431 disagree
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EdnBetty said:
We just returned from Titus Andronicus, the play that Kenneth Tynan called "the worst play Marlowe ever wrote". We expected gore and got it! Tsoutsouvas was also great, but Valerie Leonard was vamping it over the top. And that voice set my teeth on edge!
746 agree | 481 disagree
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Reader said:
Yes, "She Stoops to Comedy" at Woolly Mammoth is a treat!
546 agree | 465 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Oh, we just a-DORed this show!
573 agree | 458 disagree
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