An Ideal Husband | Lewis Treston & La Boite Theatre
I will open this review by telling you all that Oscar Wilde’s name is tattooed on my left forearm. As that might imply to you, I have intense feelings about his work. And just like a fan of Jane Austen watching the trailer for the latest adaption of Persuasion I was hoping for the best but also anticipating some form disappointment watching Lewis Treston’s adaption of An Ideal Husband at La Boite. Either as it pertained to the plot or to the socio-political commentary Wilde is known for. Luckily for me, this was not a comparable trainwreck to Netflix’s Persuasion but, rather, quite the opposite.
In terms of the plot, we still get the classic story of a disaster gay with an arts degree trying desperately to not be cut off from his father’s fortune and marrying his best friend to do it all the while entangling himself in the grit of blackmail and political corruption. This time all of the Queer coding is stripped away, and we witness the undertones of Wilde’s original work play out live and in technicolour. Treston’s script is also full of references to Wilde’s life and his writing, which I will leave you to discover for yourselves when you see it (clocking the references is part of the fun).
Where the commentary is concerned in this An Ideal Husband it’s 1996(ish). It’s the eve of Howard’s election, Pauline Hanson is just a woman who runs a fish’n’chip shop, and climate change is something the average Australian is only just starting to actively care about. A well-meaning politician set on saving a native species has her past dug up by a mining magnate (who resembles both Joan Collins and Gina Reinhardt) and is forced to contend with the consequences of getting big money involved in politics. A perfect transliteration of the original work’s commentary across time and space, in my opinion. All of this is set to a brilliant soundtrack of classic 90s music and hilarious visuals complete with a powerpoint presentation featuring wordart, clipart, gaudy transitions, and an appearance from the icon themselves, Clippy. A perfect storm of humour, political commentary, heart, and deeply fruity behaviour this An Ideal Husband is a triumph in Queer Australiana.
Images: Social Flames
What makes this production its own, aside from everything I’ve already described, is the Australian lens applies to, and the physical nature of the work’s comedy. Wilde’s scripts are notorious for being able people standing on opposite sides of a room throwing emotional daggers at each other under the pretence of humour. We still get this, but it is combined with the knowing political retrospect provides and Bridget Boyle’s penchant for physical comedy which even just thinking about it can only have phenomenal results.
While we are on the subject of humour, I will say, as someone who was born and raised in the heart of the Dawson electorate (tropical north Queensland for those playing along at home) it’s, understandably, not all that funny to see everyone I grew up around get dunked on by the industry I want to spend the rest of my life working in. And to raucous laughter at that. The arts aren’t funded enough in those communities as it is and, in my experience, it very much has to do with the same looking-down-our-nose point of view that makes up a good portion of this work’s humour. I cannot help but take stock of the irony infused in the image of a major city playwright and a major city director sitting in the ivory tower of the mainstage and deciding to use their time there to besmirch rural communities. The same communities that are often the hardest hit by the climate, corruption, racism, and anti-Queer issues this country faces and that this play interrogates. Treston could have chosen any Liberal seat in this country. He chose Dawson. This does not necessarily make the play anything less than brilliant, but it did provide a roadblock on my journey to enjoyment.
Something I very deeply enjoyed, was the cast and their performances. Emily Burton is SERVING every single second she is onstage. Clueless might be the visual reference for her costume but she’s the only one with a clue about how imperative it is the environment be safeguarded. Christen O’Leary eats up every single scene she steps on stage for. Regardless of whether she’s playing a Prime Minister’s widow with an odd fixation on powdering her nose or a glistening mining goddess I am deeply excited to see how she makes the scene hers. Most haunting was the Gina Reinhardt of it all and her final line as mining giant Tina Topza, “Don’t be ridiculous a woman already runs this country”. Patrick Jhanur is just as domineering and sensual in his role as our protagonist, Artie’s, weak-at-knees response to even his name indicates. Billie Fogarty is a perfect foil to whoever they are onstage with. They perfectly capture the essence of Wilde’s humour and translate it seamlessly into Treston’s. I will admit it took a little while to warm up to Will Carseldine’s Artie, which may have had more to with him my introduction to the work’s altered style of humour than anything to do with his performance, but by the end of the show I had fallen just as in love with him a Kevin Spinks’ Dougie (well maybe not that much).
All this being said, this work is brilliant. An Ideal Husband provides a grim insight into how a lot of the peril we encounter currently – climate change, corruption, rampant racism, homophobia, and xenophobia – could have been prevented had a few more people stuck to their principles and didn’t give-in to corporate greed or a lust for power. All while managing to be the most joyous experience I’ve had in a theatre in a long time. Deeply hilarious. Wild(e)ly entertaining.
