Details

First performed 1895. In decorous London society, where most women have their eyes set on snaring the perfect husband, Mrs Laura Cheveley is set on securing a lucrative Argentinian investment. All she needs to ensure the success of her scheme are corruptible connections in high places. Luckily, upright government minister, Sir Robert Chiltern, has a dark secret, and Mrs Cheveley knows exactly what it is. Now she just has to slice right through Sir Robert's outwardly respectable world, bending his earlier shame to her advantage. But there is one last hope for Sir Robert: Mrs Cheveley has a dark secret too, and Sir Robert's adoring wife, Lady Chiltern, who was at school with her, knows exactly what it is. Set in London in 1985, An Ideal Husband is considered to be Oscar Wilde's dramatic masterpiece. Blisteringly witty, the play is both a stylish comedy and a searing exposure of hypocrisy and bogus morality. In its analysis of ambition, shame, corruption and ruin, it speaks most passionately, not only to our age, but also to Wilde's personal crisis at the time.

Cast/Performers

Patricia Routledge (Lady Markby), Edward Fox (Lord Caversham), Robert Bathurst (Sir Robert Chiltern), Jamie Glover (Lord Goring), Jemma Redgrave (Mrs Cheveley), Laura Rogers (Lady Chiltern), Giles Coram (Harold), Max Hutchinson (James), Catherine Kanter (Lady Basildon), Timothy Kightley (Mason), Hattie Ladbury (Mrs Marchmont), Amy Morgan (Mabel Chiltern), Joseph Prowen (Montford), Giles Taylor (Phipps), Leon Williams (Vicomte De Nanjac)

Creatives/Company

Author: Oscar Wilde
Corporate Sponsor: Rathbone Investment Management
Producer: Chichester Festival Theatre
Director(s): Rachel Kavanaugh, Gabrielle Dawes (casting)
Design: Simon Higlett
Lighting: Howard Harrison
Music: Catherine Jayes
Sound: Fergus O'Hare