[NEohioPAL] Review of "An Ideal Husband" at GLTF

[Bob Abelman]

It's girls gone Wilde at GLTF production 

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald, 10/8/10

Those into theatrical orienteering-that is, triangulating, mapping out and attending multiple productions of the same play-are in for a field day with Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband.

This brilliant piece of 19th-century social satire is playing simultaneously, albeit with differing  approaches, at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, at the Lakeland Civic Theatre (see October 1 News-Herald review) and, until October 31, at PlayhouseSquare's Hanna Theatre by the Great Lakes Theater Festival. 

The play takes place in London in 1893 and revolves around the good and honest Sir Robert Chiltern, the under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.  Fate catches up to Sir Robert when an old letter that reveals a past misdeed avails itself and he is blackmailed.  He must choose between a very public scandal that would ruin his political career and the private shame of his adoring wife, who thought she had married a paragon of ethical standards and the pillar of virtue in politics.  

In the Shaw Festival production of An Ideal Husband, a sweeping staircase, dark and foreboding costuming, and theatrical lighting accentuate all that is dramatic and deeply political about Wilde's work. 

Lakeland's minimalist take on the play concentrates on the poetry and poignancy in Wilde's words.  The dialogue between the privileged "beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics" that populate this play, armed with competing philosophies about the mores of modern society, is strip mined for its social commentary and comedy.  

The GLTG production is more of a morality play, with greater emphasis placed on the ethical extremes that surface throughout this piece.  Those extremes are personified by Lady Gertrude Chiltern, the highly idealist wife of the ideal husband, and the morally bankrupt blackmailer Mrs. Laura Cheveley.

The play itself revolves around Sir Robert, who actor Richard Klautsch turns into a wonderfully textured and sympathetic character.  Most of the play's humor comes courtesy of Sir Robert's best friend Viscount Goring, a role custom made for the likes of David Anthony Smith, who embraces and embellishes all that is comedic while still managing to add layers of charm and nearly stealing the show.

This production, however, is all about the ladies.  Wilde's writing is at its best when women speak their minds, and director Sari Ketter and her production crew do much to place the moral standoff between Lady Gertrude and Mrs. Cheveley center stage.  

For one thing, they actually place these two women center stage as much as possible to make what they represent the focus of our attention and central to everything that is transpires.  

They also thinly veil this production within the pretense of a fairy tale, as if its broadly drawn characters just stepped out of a storybook to enact another timeless tale about good overcoming evil in a world imbued with fantasy.  The lyrical nature of Wilde's words, the idyllic existence of the Chilterns, and the ideological extremes of the leading ladies are quite conducive to this bit of poetic license.

Costume designer Jason Resler color-codes characters accordingly, with Mrs. Cheveley draped in heavy fabrics with dark shades of blood-red and Lady Gertrude wearing light hued and airy gowns.  Nayna Ramey's scenic design has a timeless, ever after quality to it, offering little more than marble steps and pillars, tables and chairs, and assorted artifacts to add atmosphere to the space. 

Laura Perrotta's Mrs. Cheveley is very much the evil Queen/step mother prototype, offering a severely beautiful façade that transparently cloaks the bile below the surface.  She is a tarantula in taffeta, prowling the territory and weaving the web of deceit that drives this production.   Perrotta's overly dramatic presentation is a bit much at times and a tad Disney-esque (when she stands near a bowl of apples, it is easy to imagine a poison one in the bunch), but she owns the stage with her presence and is a pleasure to watch.

Jodi Dominick's Lady Gertrude is the perfect counterpoint.  She renders her character's high standards and expectations for her husband as acts of adoration rather than idolization, which both softens her implicit rigidity while bolstering her defense against Mrs. Cheveley.  Dominick's moments on stage are wonderful.

So are those of Sara Bruner, whose high-octane portrayal of Count Goring's love interest, Miss Mabel Chiltern, is pure delight.   

Building on the fairy tale motif, scene changes are performed by dedicated house staff as if they were magically transformed house mice, stepping in perfect unison and making much ado about moving a chair or two.  This is a distraction from what Wilde brings to the table, but it is a pleasant distraction.     

Those inclined to choose one An Ideal Husband production over another would do well to follow the advice of a storybook female created by Robert Southey, a contemporary of Wilde's.  She would suggest that Shaw is too hard, Lakeland is too soft, but the GLTF production is just right.

An Ideal Husband continues in repertory with Othello through October 31 at PlayhouseSquare's Hanna Theatre in downtown Cleveland.  For tickets, which range from $13 to $70, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.greatlakestheater.org.
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