This weekend the Newcastle Summer Season is delighted to welcome Summer Season favourites, Southbank Playhouse, with their production of Oscar Wilde’s brilliant dissection of public and private morality, An Ideal Husband, at 8pm on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 August.
Oscar Wilde once commented: “Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.”
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David Fleming, Emily Larney and Min Witts in An Ideal Husband.[/caption]
Southbank Playhouse presents Oscar Wilde’s classic dissection of public and private morality, An Ideal Husband, as outrageously relevant today as it was in Wilde’s heyday.
The play revolves around the lives of two men, successful political figure Sir Robert Chiltern and his friend, the uninspired but utterly charming Lord Arthur Goring. Chiltern’s life is perfect thanks to the help of his loving and brilliant wife Gertrude and the support of his quick-witted sister Mabel. Goring’s life is one of lounging, flirting with Mabel, and avoiding his father’s instance that he should marry.
However, the happy world of the two gentlemen is turned upside down by the arrival of an old acquaintance, Mrs. Laura Cheveley, who has come with blackmail in mind. Chiltern could lose everything, including Gertrude. It is up to his wife and Goring to confront this dilemma, but it could risk Goring’s chances to finally win over Mabel. As the comments and lies begin to fly about, it’s revealed that the man thought to be perfect is flawed, the man with all the flaws must do something right, and the question remains: what makes an ideal husband?
Dates for your diary: Don’t forget to book your tickets for the final weekend of the Newcastle Summer Season Live Event Programme – on Friday 22 August don’t miss Ireland’s best Abba tribute band, The Bjorn Identity and on Saturday 23 August Balkan Alien Sound round off the season with a high-octane night of incredible Gypsy and Balkan songs and dances.
To purchase tickets (An Ideal Husband £10 / £8) and for further information on any Down Arts Centre events, please contact the box office on 028 4461 0747.
The complete Down Arts Centre Season Programme is available to download at:
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