A Review from the Cowichan Valley Citizen
by Brian Wilford, Citizen Staff

Chemainus' Ideal Husband offers best in witty theatre
The Chemainus Theatre Festival's production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband is snappy, witty, polished and first-rate. Go see it.

Despite the eviscerating of almost two hours of content from the original, Wilde is smiling on director Jeremy Tow, whose resemblance to the 19th-century fop in the playbill photos is most uncanny.

Whether it's genes or talent, Tow has gone to the dinner party and introduced Wilde's sharp-tongued wit to a talented, top-notch cast, a stunning set and a runway of costumes which threaten to steal the show.

We have all slept through English parlour pieces. This is not like that.

The stolid Sir Robert Chiltern, played WASPishly tormented by Marek Czuma, is being blackmailed by the deliciously wicked, so me might say merely pragmatic, Mrs. Cheveley, played frighteningly well by Norma Bowen.

Wilde ensures there is no easy resolution. Every torment is ridiculed, dragged out and publicly flogged. And yet, why is the packed house laughing? Sir Robert and his fetching wife Lady Gertrude, played by the lovely and talented Erin Ormond, gasp for air in righteous turmoil.The rest of their world does not.

Lee Van Paassen, as Lady Markby, at one point holds the stage for probably 10 if not 15 minutes with a nigh-Shakespearean soliloquy delivered by a cross between Milton Berle and Jabba the Hut. Lord Goring, as played by Don Noble, becomes the comfortable home base in the piece, and yet delivers some of the nastiest comments, clearly the Wilde card in the play. Samantha McKenna is fetchingly coquettish as Miss Mabel and John Krich is overbearing, to say the least, as Lord Caversham, every hair in place. And yet there were those upon exit commenting on the butlers: Andrew Cooper as Mason and Mitch Pollock as Phipps. Very proper. How do we get along these days without manservants?

The set looks like something that should be protected by heritage legislation.

The ladies' dresses are stunning. They should be put on display in the lobby once the run is done. The playbill says one of Miss Mabel's dresses, one of the plainer ones actually, has a layer of Dupionne raw silk with "overlays of sheer China silk, with a train and a bustle of layered silk that has been hand-painted and decorated with handmade roses, and embroidery." I want one of Lady Gertrude's green dresses. If I got it I'd wear it to work. Promise.

An Ideal Husband, though impossible, like the speed of light, is playing at the Chemainus Theatre Festival until March 26. If you eat at the Playbill Dining Room beforehand, don't pass on the ginger, potato and leek soup. Better than it sounds.