I had been on the hunt for an additional show to go and watch, and I was given a glowing review and recommendation to go see An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde at the Lyric and Hammersmith Theatre. We originally had seats in the upper circle, but due to the closing of that area we were upgraded to the stalls very close to the stage for free. However, this came with us being put in front of a group of loud students on a field trip.
Despite the chatter behind us I quite enjoyed the show. I believe an Oscar Wilde show requires your full attention to gather all the pieces in order to out together the final image. While I lost a lot of those details to distracting sounds, I followed the plot well. I thought the set design was very clever. The moving stair case was beautifully done and so smooth I didn’t catch that it had moved until halfway through the next scene. The stage dressing in Arthur’s house was gorgeous along with the soft lighting. The costume design was phenomenal and very fun. I was thrown off quite a bit by the Arthur’s use of a vape. It made it a little difficult for me to distinguish the time period pires with the costuming and set design.
As for performance, I did feel that there were moments where blocking felt repetitive. However, I thought comedic timing was excellent. The characters were all played very big and I appreciated how funny it made them.
The theatre itself was also simply gorgeous. The ceiling in the house kept me staring for quite a while before the show and during intermission.
All in all I thought the show was very well done. If I could watch it again without loud conversation behind me I believe I would enjoy it even more.
Theatre in London U of A 