I enjoyed a fringe show more than some of the most well-known, high budget, high demand West End shows that I’ve seen here. I was told it was funny but I wasn’t expecting how much I’d really I’d like this show.
An Ideal Husband, written by Oscar Wilde and performed at the Lyric Hammersmitch Theatre, was one of the funniest shows I’ve seen this trip. It focuses on themes of idealism in relationships, how power and money can control others, and how no one is perfect.
One of my favorite moments throughout the play was when the character Gertrude Chiltern explains how she put her husband, Robert Chiltern, on a pedestal, believing him to be the perfect man, the “ideal husband,” when the show is about him covering up the fraud he committed that made him rich. She tells him how perfect she sees him and he gets upset, frustrated that she would expect so much from him, disappointed that she thinks he’s a perfect person. Later, in Act II, Robert does the exact same thing! He knows that Gertrude is imperfect, but he idealizes her and hypocritcally views her as perfect because of her imperfection. They’re both beautiful mirrors of expectations in relationships and in people and how nothing is truly going to be perfect, but that is part of the relationship. A perfect relationship, a perfect partner, cannot exist. We’re all human, we make mistakes and are all different, and we have to not only acknowledge that but talk about it if anything can work.
The set was so beautiful as well! A black and white checkered floor with full walls flying in and out did an incredible job to help change the setting throughout the different scenes, making each scene feel unique in their own setting and when we returned to a previous location it felt unique enough that it was clear where we were. The actors all did an incredible job, too, with my favorite being the man who played Robert Chiltern. His deliveries always felt real and his physical comedy made his time on stage all the more enjoyable!
It was an amazing show and I’m so glad I was able to go see it!
Theatre in London U of A 