Newspaper Page Text
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
