An Ideal Husband review, Chichester Festival Theatre

There is a great truism about heterosexual love: men fall for women as much for their faults as their virtues, but women  fall in love with men for what they can be, what they should be, what they will be under womanly guidance. So it is that when in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband the upright Lady Chiltern is forced to acknowledge that her politician husband, Sir Robert, built his fortune on a fraudulent act, we don't know how she will respond. Her husband who has loved her for her unrealistic but deeply felt idealist views, now fears them. Will this dishonour turn her against him, or can she love him flaws and all?

To make matters worse, Sir Robert is exposed by the conniving Mrs Cheveley who is blackmailing him to save her fortune. The cruel bitch! Being of its time, there is much sexism in An Ideal Husband, but there are also women of wit and vigour and some terrific lines: To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance/When the gods seek to punish us they answer our prayers/Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear. There are also terrific performances with Edward Fox as the sharp-tongued Lord Faversham providing a masterclass in timing, and Patricia Routledge as a gloriously trivial Lady Markby.


As Mrs Cheveley, Jemma Redgrave is more like a crooked accountant than waspish con woman, but she wears glorious costumes gloriously. The look of the production is fabulous: the wardrobe department at Chichester has again excelled itself. Jamie Glover as Lord Goring is an elegant Burlington Bertie type fop who is light of touch but deep of meaning, Laura Rogers is a charmingly uptight Lady Chiltern and Downton's Robert Bathurst is a beautifully nuanced Sir Robert.

In conclusion: An Ideal Husband is a great play. Its observations about human behaviour and instincts are timeless. Under Rachel Kavanaugh's direction and with a fabulous set from Simon Higlett, this production hits all the markers. It must be said though, that while the dialogue is hugely entertaining, here it feels stiff and mannered and a tad long.

References
An Ideal Husband, Tickets

Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester.    Run ends 13 December.