An Ideal Husband

Sale & Altrincham Messenger's Review

The Ideal night out - sparkling Wilde comedy at the Garrick

By Rick Bowen

****

DO you ever wonder what Oscar Wilde, had he been alive today, would have made of the recent MPs expenses scandal? He would have had a field day with it.

By contrast I think he's rather gentle with Robert Chiltern, a man who's built his political career by selling a Cabinet secret. You feel Wilde, a man who likewise didn't play by society's rules, wants Chiltern to salvage his marriage and cling on to his spotless reputation in An Ideal Husband.

This sparkling comedy is currently being staged at Altrincham Garrick and is for me, the society's best production of the season to date. John Keen and Ros Greenwood are exceptional as the under fire Chilterns and there are some priceless one liners to enjoy, most of which are delivered by the gloriously irreverent and ruthlessly cutting Lord Goring, played to perfection by Bryn Thomas. The exchanges between him and his father The Earl of Caversham (Geoff Noar) are pure comedy gold.

But the performance of the evening comes from the elegant Ali Davenport as the blackmailer Mrs Laura Cheveley. Watching Chiltern squirm in her presence is a real pleasure but this is a woman who, as we later discover in the play, can't lay claim to the moral high ground.

This is a masterpiece but you must be prepared to listen. Otherwise you'll miss some brilliant, brilliant lines.