A modern theme centers on hidden corruption among publicly squeaky-clean members of parliament. Sir Robert Chiltern appears upstanding and ideal, yet his past includes selling a cabinet secret to a baron. The revelation enables blackmail by Mrs Cheveley, threatening his reputation and forcing him to appease her. The political stakes feel less sharp than they could, and the wrongdoing is treated as a youthful sin, played with earnest charm. The production uses an all-Black cast and a Caribbean-inflected camp style, with accents, headscarves, and exaggerated fashion. The farce gains momentum after an interval, emphasizing the ludicrousness of a dissolute aristocratic circle through standout performances and doubling roles.
"Oscar Wilde's comedy was billed as a play of modern life when it premiered at the Haymarket theatre in London in 1895. It is just as modern now in its central, chiming theme: the clandestine corruptions of outwardly squeaky-clean members of parliament. Sir Robert Chiltern (Chike Okonkwo) is the apparently upstanding minister and ideal husband to Lady Chiltern (Tamara Lawrance) but his past bears the illicit selling of a cabinet secret to a baron. This threatens to ruin him if he does not appease the blackmailing Mrs Cheveley (Aurora Perrineau)."
"There are shades of cash for questions, and other recent scandals, although the political story does not quite sting as it might. One throwaway line makes the parallel to today but Chiltern's crime is dismissed as a sin of one's youth and Okonkwo plays him with a winning earnestness. Emmanuel Akwafo and Jamael Westman in An Ideal Husband, designed by Rajha Shakiry. Photograph: Helen Murray"
"However, there are other kinds of subversions at work in Nicholai La Barrie's production with an all-Black cast. Its first, slower half does not quite find its footing in pace and tone but it gains a great big boost of life after the interval with a full, frothy and fun embodiment of Wilde's farce. It seems to take its lead from the National Theatre's campy production of The Importance of Being Earnest, in which Lady Bracknell sported a West Indian inflected accent. The Caribbean twist is much more pronounced here, as is the campness."
"Some sport plummy accents while others wear colourful headscarves and speak in Caribbean tones. Viscount Arthur Goring (Jamael Westman, fabulously louche) is arch, dandily dressed with Pirates of the Caribbean eyeliner. Emmanuel Akwafo, who plays the Chilterns' quietly disapproving butler, becomes flouncy in his doubling up as Goring's servant and is one of the highlights. Jeff Alexander, as Goring's grumpy father, is another. The production underlines the ludicrousness of this dissolute, aristocratic gang and"
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