An Ideal Husband - A Radio Play

An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde – a radio play

Heckington Players

Report by Jules Jones

A warm welcome as ever at Heckington Village Hall for an evening of entertainment. I was met at the door and offered a seat swiftly. A delicious cup of tea and I was ready for an evening with one of my favourite plays.

The Victorian popular theatre provided stock storylines of domestic life that, after various crises, would culminate in the reaffirmation of familiar themes: loyalty, sacrifice, undying love, forgiveness, and devotion.  An Ideal Husband is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption and touches on the themes of public and private honour. The characters are society people, the way they speak, and the way they interact are supposedly a dance of sophisticated rules and language, often odd to our modern ear.  Yet immerse yourself in the language, then allow the story to take you back in time.

The radio play format worked very well in the hall with cabaret-style seating. The actors were dressed formally and the staging was very simple.  Heckington Living Radio recorded the play and the whole performance was embellished by music, background ambient sounds, and practical sound effects. Just wonderful!

The actors all performed well, with good ‘London society’ accents and fantastic comic timing. Particularly Kei Bailey who played Viscount Arthur Goring, the part Oscar Wild himself played. Most wit, in this play, consists in saying the opposite of something commonly accepted as truth. This sort of wit insists giddily that if one abstracts enough, each thing is as true as its opposite. The sophistry serves to show not that truth is unstable, but that generalisations have little to do with truth – though they are enjoyable if one doesn’t take them too seriously. Kei’s rapport with the audience was scintillating and we were drawn into the story and indeed the background of the characters with ease. Jo Warrick played Mrs Cheveley, as the play's femme fatale: bitingly witty, fabulously well dressed, cruel, ambitious, opportunistic, and, above all, duplicitous. Repeatedly the play describes her as the product of ‘horrid combinations,’ evoking her dangerous deceitfulness. Jo’s portrayal was superb, the sparkle in her eye, had the audience enjoying the way her character manipulated the men around.

The Chilterns played by Dan Poulson, Charlotte Shearsby, and Kelly Anderson were all perfectly voiced, I found myself closing my eyes to enjoy their conversations, I felt that Charlotte and Dan may not have been cast against each other in a live play, yet their voices worked perfectly together. Kelly and Kei’s voices also worked well together, the teasing nature of Authur and Mabel’s relationship, and their light and playful language, seemed filled with empathy and warmth.

Julian Warrick played Lord Caversham as an irritable, stubborn man who frequently commands Lord Goring (his son) to grow up. He wants Lord Goring to marry, enter politics, and basically make something of himself. Julian was just perfect, his gruff voice in contrast to the other lighter accents, demonstrated the distinction between the grown-ups and the children.

Dan Excell as the narrator created the atmosphere and set the scene for the play. A tricky part to master, yet Dan did very well indeed.  Stuart Wyle played a variety of roles, Phipps (Lord Goring’s servant), Mason (the servant of the Chiltern household) and Mr Montford. As Phipps, he had us in stitches as he took his place at the microphone in a slow overstated walk, which demonstrated the contrast to his other characters. Brilliant.

The other society ladies were played by Melanie Priestly as Lady Markby, Amy Ash as Lady Basildon, and Tamara Mills as Mrs Marchmont, all well performed, with good accents and enjoyable performances. A special mention to Laura Griffin who not only voiced Vicomte de Nanjac with aplomb but performed most of the sound effects too, with Tamara Mills.  This was masterfully done, I really enjoyed seeing the live sounds being created by Laura and Tamara, exactly on cue. A really clever use of props and papers to create the doors, letters, cups, and glasses, along with the ambient soundtracks created a wonderful presentation and listening pleasure.  Laura also took on the role of director, an accomplished well rounded creation, well done.

The live sound was manipulated by Andy Mellett-Brown, the poster, and photography created by Colette Buchanan-Gray, and Props made by Callum Thomas and Tamara Mills.

This type of evening, staging a radio play, and serving refreshments with cabaret-style seating was a very pleasurable experience, only a shame more people didn’t attend. Yet I feel the momentum may build with regular performances and then it will become a positive way to fundraise. Choice of play is obviously a consideration, something popular, preferably free of performance rights, and possibly something off the school curriculum.

I wish Heckington Players every success with future endeavours. 

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