Take one perennial play of the English tradition, stage it in
the beautiful surroundings of the oldest college in Oxford, and
watch the magic unfold. Nothing could be more of a sure-fire
success than Univ Players’ garden production of An Ideal
Husband, a feast of witty repartee and biting social comment set
in the dizzy heights of upper-class London. It is beautifully
presented, with careful attention to detail and a dazzling array
of period costumes, and enthusiastically performed by a cast made
up of Univ students. Directors Zeynep Kayacan and Naomi Wilkinson have shunned
modernisation in favour of a completely traditional approach,
down to the gloves, hats, canes and classical music. The ladies
are all elegant distaste and archly-raised eyebrows, while they
allow themselves to be escorted by the gentlemen to supper. The
ensemble acting is polished and almost fautless. Nanw Rowlands is
wonderful as a “frightfully plummy” Mabel and Jamie
Rann turns in a first-rate performance as Viscount Goring, while
Lady Markby is played with a fabulously aristocratic tone by the
hilarious Heather Oliver. The whole atmosphere is one of propriety and etiquette, under
which the sordid matters of power and money bubble. Wilde takes
care to remind the audience that scandal is both the requirement
and the destruction of the whole social structure. As Mrs
Cheveley (Rachel Clements) points out, “it is the game of
life as we all have to play it.” This energetic production is packed with laughs, and stands as
unquestionable proof that the Univ Players are a force to be
reckoned with in the world of Oxford drama.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004
An Ideal Husband
