Forget your man, the play's the thing, and it's 'Ideal'

In Anna Hoffman's, BR '01, production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, statements never fail to ring true in their contradictions. Most of its social interactions are steeped in the same humorous paradox implied by the title. What these class-obsessed characters want is a prestigious reputation in general society and a supportive ground of unconditional love at home. "As a rule," Lady Markby (Desiree Burch, TD '01) observes, as if discussing flavors of tea or mail-order wallpaper patterns, "everyone always turns out to be someone else."

KATHERINE ALDRICH/YH Blasher, DC '01, and Burch, TD '01, quibble.

The actors turn into these "someone elses" with just the right combination of artificiality and understanding. They do not become better people by any means; rather, the hilarious scenes of dramatic irony remind them as actors, characters, and lovers that they are in this together. Mrs. Cheveley (Lauren Popper, ES '01) brings the pasts of Sir Robert (James Waldinger, BR '00) and his wife Lady Chiltern (Lisa Limor Rabie, BK '01) together with her bribe; she is a woman from Lady Chiltern's school days bearing a secret from Sir Robert's prenuptial past. In Lord Arthur's (David Blasher, DC '01) words, the "marvelous gospel of gold breaks down" upon Mrs. Cheveley's accusation to Sir Robert that he is not rich enough to buy back his past. When a solicitation for help is read as a love letter and a brooch is mistaken for a bracelet, conflicts pile up until a denouncement is the only escape.

Set at both ends of the Pierson common room, the stage alternates with each act and audience members turn chairs around to visit different drawing rooms. The space itself becomes a stage, allowing the audience to forget its separation. The honed English accents falter on rare occasion; one expects Wilde's society to be so satirically pretentious that tongues must slip sometimes to reveal insincerity.

Honesty weaves its way through the characters' minds, ultimately fulfilling Mrs. Marchmont's (Tracy Appleton, JE '01) flippant remark,"I come here to be educated." Without noticing their self-mockery, characters advertise many of the adages that allowed Wilde to simultaneously satirize and entertain society."One's past is what one is" seems to be Gertrude's motto; her obsession with thinking her husband is flawless leads to her disillusionment. She finally believes her husband's past—"the one sin of [his] youth"—while admitting to herself that she still loves him. This duality lets her accept what he once said—that truth is a very complex thing—as a veiled warning to give up on "ideal" husbands.

Theater

An Ideal Husband Written by Oscar Wilde Directed by James Luce Fri., Apr. 21, 8 p.m., Sat. Apr. 22, 7 and 10 p.m., Sun. Apr. 23, 1 and 4 p.m. Pierson common room

Whatever blunders occur throughout the play belong entirely to the characters, whose misperceptions never affect the actors. Blasher's collapse to the floor at the exposure of the wrong woman in his drawing room is perfectly timed, while Rabie's quick recovery after she avoids being caught in a lie imitates the reaction of a child who realizes the cookie jar has been miraculously refilled before his parents' return. Shrewd in her attempts to wreck the Chilterns' lives and pathetically explosive in her failure, Popper receives a balance of disgust and sympathy from the audience. The excellent reconciliation scene with Waldinger and Rabie disproves Lord Arthur's earlier proclamation that "the only possible society is oneself." Lord Arthur retracts his own words by falling in love with Miss Chiltern, and bringing about a perfect comedic ending where "a new life is beginning."

In this new life, Lord Arthur will step down from the "monstrous pedestal" where his wife has placed him, leaving room for an inspired and serious production. Perhaps together they will be able, as the actors themselves certainly are, to call things by their proper names without lowering the mask of social life, to aspire to the ideal without forgetting the faulty.

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