Young actors often make up in enthusiasm what they lack in experience, and such is the case with Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, in a high-energy production by The Company of Strangers Theater.
Director Jessica Sosnoski has her hands full with moving more than a dozen actors around the Underground Collaborative’s postage stamp-sized stage. She does so effectively once the opening party scene concludes. During the party, characters are so cramped that they fail to move with the necessary grace that this upper-society “dance” requires. The audience also has difficulty focusing on the main conversation with so many distractions.
A nicer distraction are the show’s steampunk-inspired Victorian costumes, many of them crafted by costumer Barb Hummel. Production notes reveal that some actors, too, had a hand in creating these colorful and complex outfits. Wilde would have been mad for them.
The cast list is too long to allow special mention, but several characters rise above the rest. As Sir Robert, owner of the estate where most of the action takes place, actor Ralph Williams comes close to hitting the nail on the head. He seems a bit forced at times, but one expects him to sufficiently loosen up throughout the run. Sir Robert is also the virtuous “ideal husband” of Lady Chiltern (Karen Elizabeth Sharkey). She has possibly the most difficult role in the play. How could a woman have so much blind faith in a man? Yet Sharkey manages to convey this character’s innocence.
Sir Robert has never given his wife any reason to suspect his long-ago misstep that launched his wealth and career. In a hushed conversation, Sir Robert tells a friend he has “paid” various charities several times the amount of cash he once received for selling state secrets. It’s easy to see similarities between Sir Robert’s predicament and current political themes.
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Two of the youngest cast members, Noelle Thompson and Rob Schreiner, are credible as Mrs. Chevely and Lord Goring. The former is an old classmate of Lady Chiltern’s who seems even more adept at doing whatever is necessary to get her way. Thompson is a scene-stealing presence whenever she’s onstage, rivaled only by Schreiner’s Lord Goring, memorable as a sly “slacker” who pulls the strings to make all that’s wrong right again.
An Ideal Husband gives this cast a chance to expand its acting muscles as well as lend another line to each actor’s performance credits. The play requires a great deal of restraint and subtlety to be effective, and this production seems headed in the right direction.
Through Sept. 30 at the Underground Collaborative, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave., on the lower level of the Shops at Grand Avenue. For tickets, call 414-221-7498 or visit thecompanyofstrangerstheater.com.
