Last Look: An Ideal Husband


Normally I catch a show just as it has opened (or started previews), but for a change this week I caught An Ideal Husband, which ends its run at the Vaudeville Theatre on Saturday.

It is a great production, and I gained a new appreciation for Wilde and his work watching the performers in this production. It highlighted to me (at least) that everything hinges on the performances in making this show amusing or ordinary. The laughs are totally dependent on the actors' delivery, timing and emphasis. For the most part they got it right.

Watching this production is like eating a tub of good vanilla ice cream. Awfully satisfying and enjoyable. It also helps having a drink at the circle bar in the Vaudeville Theatre amongst all the newly restored Victorian splendour. You will feel somewhat civilised and reminded that this is what going to see a play in the West End should be all about. A jolly good sense of occasion.

Next up at the Vaudeville is Neil LaBute's new play, In a Forest Dark and Deep from 3 March.

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