An Ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde

Advantages: Funny, unpredictable and great drama
Disadvantages: A bit too complex ?

...experience of victorian manners. An Ideal Husband is a play about love and politics. If this sounds boring then bare with me as it really isn't as predictable as it all sounds. The main characters are victorian gentry/middle class. They consist of :- Lord Goring, an idle but intelligent gentleman Sir Robert Chiltern, an important memebr of parliament Lady Chiltern, his wife and a very moral character Mabel Chiltern, Robert Chilterns sister ...
...a rich amoral lady. In addition to these there are various characters such as Lord Gorings father and his butler. The play opens with a party given by Sir Chiltern. The arrival of Mrs Cheveley sours the atmosphere due to her questionable reputation. We soon discover that she has found out about a bribe taken by Robert Chiltern in his youth and she then tries to blackmail him. Lady Chiltern threatens to leave her husband if he gives in to Mrs Chevely's ... Read review

Advantages: Witty, sophisticate dialogue
Disadvantages: Characters a little outdated

...sardonic comment on society. An Ideal Husband is, as is perhaps to be expected, a play about love and marriage. It focuses on the marriage of Sir Robert Chiltern (my part and hence my user name) and his wife, Gertrude. Chiltern’s career and reputation is well established in politics as a leading member of parliament. However in his early day, Chiltern committed a misdemenour which now returns to haunt him. He is threatened with blackmail and turns ...
...a resolute bachelor and womanizer. He is charming, aristocratic, handsome and a smooth talker and has a clear view on marriage, "Other people are quite dreadful. To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." However, women are instinctively drawn towards him vying for his attention and seeking to win him as their husband including the would-be blackmailer, Mrs. Cheveley and Gertrude’s sister, Mabel. Without giving too much of the plot ... Read review

Advantages: Quite interesting
Disadvantages: Only quite interesting

...of the plot suggests he has not read the original story by Marquez, which may not have been important for the actors (personally, I think so). Perhaps understandably, he spends some time discussing films in which he was involved but later abandoned or not released. Sadly, he barely mentions the two films of Oscar Wilde plays, "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "An Ideal Husband", in which I think he gave his best performances. He has affairs with a couple of named women actors, and you are left wondering about a few others. There is plenty of bitchiness, gossip, and some movie-making insights as well as a few Hollywood Babylon type revelations. Whenever you begin to conclude he is a perfidious narcissist he about turns, and speaks generously of some of his professional colleagues, and readily admits behaving badly on and around certain... Read review

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