An Ideal Husband – a review

Normally, I leave theatre reviewing to Dermod (who, to be fair, does it much better than I). However, I got to tag along to opening night of An Ideal Husband in the Abbey last night, and figured it would be remiss of me not to comment on it.  One of the many joys of being with É, is that I regularly get invitations as a plus-one to fabulous events such as this.  Rarely though, have I enjoyed such an occasion so immensely.

For those who’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, An Ideal Husband is Neil Bartlett’s first outing as director at the Abbey.  Known equally for his writing and his directing, Bartlett has always had an eye for the controversial.  Working alongside his long-term set and costume design collaborator Rae Smith, he has created a wonderful production.  Smith’s work is particularly stunning, as the stage is opened in full, and the actors work in the most beautiful costumes (in particular, the day-coat worn by Lord Goring is simply stunning, and I have no qualms about admitting that I want one!).  As another slight aside, speaking of Victorian dress reminds me of Ronan’s marvellous open letter to Guillermo Del Toro regarding Dracula (and speaking of Del Toro, I’m unspeakably excited by Hellboy II opening next week!).

Anyway, back to the production.  Bartlett’s work is very stylised, in a way that appeals to me greatly.  He uses Smith’s beautiful sets, along with some striking lighting work by Chris Davey to create a somewhat more subversise imagining of this show that most will be familiar with.  Which, to be fair, is exactly what one would expect of Bartlett, whose foundations in site-specific performance clearly shape his vision of how a stage should be used.

Needless to say, the acting is also worthy of discussion. Mark O’Halloran plays the wonderful lead role of Lord Goring – the part which most obviously embodies Wilde himself. Prior to last night, I had only seen Mark act in Adam and Paul, though I’m an enormous fan of his writing/production work on both that film and Garage. Gays in Dublin will also be familiar with him from the Wednesday night movies in PantiBar, as he selects the “movies that every gay cinephile should see”. My only little quibble with him is that he doesn’t have a blog or website of his own yet – I must remember to scold him about that.  Anyway, his performance was electric – he really holds the role with an incredible stage presence.  Obviously the part is wonderfully written, but there’s an imperious air to O’Halloran in the role that I suspect is utterly fitting.  He is also one of the few people I’ve encountered who looks younger when bearded than he does when clean-shaven (as he is in this role)!

The other star performance was delivered by Deirdre Donnelly as Lady Markby.  I last saw Donnelly in The Big House (also at the Abbey), where she had a marvellous role as an ageing English lady.  This role was very similar in wany ways, but her impeccable delivery was a real highlight.  Again though, this is one of the parts in An Ideal Husband that benefits enormously from the exquisite writing.

A little more shaky was Natalie Radmall-Quirke in the role of Lady Chiltern.  Her first act performance was worryingly shaky actually, but then suddenly she came alive in Act II, and proceeded to deliver a fine performance indeed.  Opening night nerves perhaps, though she’ll need to work to nail down her first act performance in the coming weeks.  To be fair, the roles of both Lord and Lady Chiltern are not particularly well developed, and often they appear to only exist for plot purposes, and to act as a counterpoint against which other actors can deploy their wit.

Overall, the biggest impact of this show was it’s visual effect, and the cleverness of the presentation.  However, Bartlett has also managed to coax some terrific performances from his actors, notably O’Halloran and Donnelly.  An Ideal Husband runs at the Abbey until 29th September, and I highly recommend seeing it.

In other news, it may well be worth picking up tickets for the final movie of the Jameson Movies on the Square series.  I’m not saying why, but it’ll be well worth it (particularly given that the tickets are free!!)