This is a fun, open-to-all reading for An Ideal Husband, which will be Proscenium's November 2025 production (play week: 5-8 November 2025 at Compass Theatre, Ickenham). Rehearsals will begin on 4th September and will be Tues/Thurs evening and Saturday mornings as usual. If you'd like to find out more about the play, please come along!
Everyone is welcome at this 'just for fun' reading, whether you are a member of Proscenium or not.
An Ideal Husband is one of Oscar Wilde’s great plays… Linda Hampson will be directing the show. Below is more information from her about the play. If you would like to be considered for a part, there are two casting readings - please see our other event dates.
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR:
This is my favourite Wilde play, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to direct it. It explores themes of political corruption, morality, and, as the title might suggest, marriage.
There are 5 or 6 male parts (depending on whether we double) and 6 female parts, all of which allow for a certain degree of playing-age flexibility. So, nobody, if they already know the play, should disqualify themselves in advance from casting because of their age.
Summary
The play is set in London high society in the 1890s and revolves around Sir Robert Chiltern, a respected politician and devoted husband, and Lady Chiltern, his morally upright, slightly sanctimonious wife.
Their seemingly perfect life is threatened when the charming but menacing Mrs. Cheveley arrives to blackmail Robert with a dark secret from his past which, if exposed, could ruin him, to say nothing of his marriage. Desperate, Robert turns to his close friend, Lord Goring, a witty and idle bachelor who also happens to be an old acquaintance of Mrs. Cheveley. Goring outmanoeuvres Mrs. Cheveley, retrieves the incriminating evidence, and saves Robert’s career and marriage.
By the end, Lady Chiltern realizes that true love should not be based on unrealistic ideals, but on compassion and forgiveness. Robert decides to leave politics for a more honest life, and Lord Goring finds love, based on trust and mutual respect, with Robert’s lively sister, Mabel.
Supporting roles include 3 society matrons with an opinion on everything, the French attaché, 2 impeccable menservants and the Earl of Caversham, Lord Goring’s harrumphing father.
Photo by Amanda Mocci on Unsplash
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