About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2011)
WIT AND WISDOM In my late teens I used to date a girl who was really into Dorothy Parker, the noted author known for her sharp writing, crushing depression, heroic drinking and caustic, quot able wit. "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" is Parker's, as are "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses" and "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." The girl wanted to be Parker in the same way many guys that age want to be Kerouac, and she had developed a steady stream of epigrams and bons mots for every occasion, which wore thin very quickly. I hadn't signed on to date the Algonquin Round Table, and while Dorothy Parker was magic with a zinger from the hip, even she didn't talk that way constantly. The poet and playwright Oscar Wilde is the same sort of animal. His celebrated wit is masterful when taken one drollery at a time, but if he really spoke the way he is perceived to, I'd set the clock at five minutes before one of his fellow party guests punched him between the eyes to shut him up. In real ity, Wilde was canny enough to know the difference between wittiness and true wit, between a cheap cerebral parlor trick and a wry observation of human nature. His mastery of both is the engine that drives his 1893 play An Ideal Husband, currently being staged by the Town & Gown Players, a very fashionable story of love, black mail and the hell of others' expectations. The play opens at a party thrown by Sir Robert Chiltern (Micah Buckley), a rising star in the British government known for his rigid principles and unblemished character, and his adoring wife Gertrude (Hannah Beth Reynolds). The party is full of nonsense talk about how it's nonsense to talk about anything but nonsense, but with the arrival of Mrs. Laura Cheveley (Rebekah Williams) the do gets serious. Mrs. Cheveley has been six years on the Continent going full-blown Eurotrash, collecting two husbands and a lot of scandal, and she's come with a dangerous proposition for Sir Robert. She has invested heavily in a construction scheme he is about to denounce in Parliament, and she needs him to go against his principles and endorse the project, or else she will release a letter from his younger days in which he confesses to the insider trading that built his fortune and career. Mrs. Cheveley's scheme strikes straight at Sir Robert's heart. Not only does he face the end of his career and his good name, but the news of his financial indiscretions will devastate Gertrude, whose rock-solid belief in her husband's goodness and propriety borders on worship. In desperation Sir Robert turns to his friend Lord Goring (Nathan Altman), a foppish bachelor and occasional paramour of Sir Robert's sister Mabel (Asia Meana). Goring's public persona as an empty-headed gadfly, even to his conservative father (Alan Hickerson), masks an agile mind and deep compassion, and he leaps in as confidant to both Chilterns while working to save Sir Robert from Mrs. Chevely's predations. Wilde's play is sharp, intelligent and resonant—how often do we see politicians caught with their hypocrisy dangling today?— and it makes great hay out of the way we are often trapped by others' perceptions. Sir Robert's dilemma is predicated on the idea that a man cannot show his feet of clay, while Lord Goring finds his efforts at saving the day hindered by his father's constant attempts to make something out of him, unaware that his son has his destiny well in hand. There is much wisdom to be found in Wilde's play once you wade through all the ephemeral banter. Director Marisa Castengera has cast this play well. Drawing-room dramas are hard to pull off, as too frequently the actors are over whelmed by the manners and fancy-dress. This is the case with a few of the minor players, but the principals accomplish it hand somely. Buckley and Reynolds are solid as the compromised Sir Robert and his uncompromising wife. Williams is good as usual, fairly radiating bitchy villainy as Mrs. Cheveley attempts to manipulate everyone around her. Altman delivers a wonderfully nuanced performance, moving effortlessly between Goring's personae of fop and hero like the Scarlet Pimpernel. The production looks gorgeous. The illusion of fashionable Edwardian London is well-executed in Harriet Timm Anderson's costumes; there are many in this play, and they are authentic and beautiful. The sets, two rooms in the Chilterns' house and one in Goring's, are warm, textured and inviting. They're also big, and there is much moving going on behind the curtain between acts, so be patient. An Ideal Husband is a long play—that Oscar Wilde is wordy should surprise no one—and its four acts should really be three, especially as the fourth act drags a bit with its many resolutions. This is the fault of Wilde, not Castengera, who keeps her actors mov ing and talking at a brisk pace. Audiences are advised not to eat snacks: one wrapper-crinkle and you'll miss valuable dialogue. "Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words." Dorothy Parker wrote that, and it applies here. An Ideal Husband is often funny, and certainly witty, but it's at its best when Wilde gets down to truth. This Town & Gown production brings that truth home in fine style. John G. Nettles An Ideal Husband runs Thursday—Sunday, Aug. 11-14. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursday—Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 Friday and Saturday, $12 Thursday and Sunday. $12 all days for students and seniors. Call (706) 208-TOWN (8696) for reservations. The Best from the Ivowcountn Champagne Brunch Saturday & Sunday with "2 Mimosas & s 3 Bloody Mans nam-3pm Saturday • i2:30-3pm Sunday ALWAYS *8 DOZEN when available HAPP!f HOUR Monday-Friday 4-7pm s 2 Domestics • $ 4 House Wine s 2 House Champagne Every Monday $ 3 Martinis Featuring 360 Vodka LIVE MUSIC Every Wednesday 6pm August lO TONGUE + GROOVE Wednesday, August 17 KEN WILL MORTON Open at 4pm Mon-Fri pen at 11am Sat & Sun - By the Ix>op - V 2095 S. Milledge Ave. § *3 706-548-3359 ^ Body piercing —^ * AMPLE PARKING AVAILABLE 10% OFF Tattoo or Body Piercing $1 OFF Mediums Expires 8/23/11. Restrictions Apply WWW.AMERICANCLASSICTATTOO.NET 1035a Baxter St. \ 706-543-7628 nesuiac *** * Omni Club 5 POintS 7M.369.3111 706.613.9600 AUGUST 10, 2011-FLAGPOLE.COM 11
