We were tasked with going to see a Fringe show. This means that it is not a part of the West End Theatre scene. I went to see An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. This was a modern adaptation production. I had bought tickets to be in the upper circle, kind of far back. They weren’t going to be good seats. But at the last minute, I got an upgrade!!! i got moved to the stalls and was fairly close to the stage. I was like great! This is going to be a good experience. Well. Not really. The lady beside me decided she needed to freshen her breath with a piece of gum for the entire show. Both acts. I unfortunately was very distracted by this, that I didn’t quite fully understand what the plot was. I thought that the set design was fun. It was cool how different set pieces were raise and lowered. There was this big curtain made of fringe. I found this funny because it was a fringe show with fringe. I had mixed feelings about this. I liked the movement it added to the stage. I thought it was really pretty and created contrast to the rest of the set. I did think it was funny that characters would enter and exit through this fringe, and it would catch on the characters costumes. So maybe it wasn’t a practical choice. It also appeared in two different rooms of this one house, and that confused me. They must really like fringe curtains for entering and exiting. I like the father character. He really acted with his body. He was a very exaggerated character, wich constrasted with everyone else. But he was great. I was not very impressed with the blocking. There was a moment where two characters were alone and talking with one another. The woman that was supposed to be intimidating the man would get up from her chair, walk to the other side of the stage, and then start to move towards him to create tension, and then she would sit down. And then she would get up again and do the exact same thing. 3 times I think. It completely lost it’s impact. I’m not sure if this was a directing thing or an acting choice. But it was the fault of both sides. And the male actor wanted to sit down so bad. I could see him wanting too, but not doing it. I wanted to scream at him to just sit down! Overall, It was an alright show. It was nothing compared to all of the other shows I saw on the West End of course. But it was pretty good. Just take away the lady smacking on gum, and it would have been much better.
Theatre in London U of A 