​

“Even you are not rich enough, Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.”

​

Sir Robert Chiltern has it all – wealth, charm, a glowing political career and a wife who idolises him, above all for his apparently impeccable virtue and morally upstanding nature. Into his seemingly perfect life, however, arrives the scheming, scandalous and seductive Mrs Cheveley; a woman who scorns the hypocritical moralising of the age and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. And a woman who knows a dangerous secret about Robert’s past that threatens to bring his whole world crashing down…

​

Written by Oscar Wilde in 1894, An Ideal Husband is a biting satire of Victorian politics, morality and relationships. With almost every line a quotable example of Wilde’s famous wit, the hilarious dialogue sits atop a much weightier story, combining both deep cynicism about British society and inspiring hope in the redeeming power of love and forgiveness.

​

“Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself. To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.”

​

The play, with its story of a celebrated man leading a double life with a scandal waiting to be exposed, mirrors in a way Wilde’s own life. On the last day of the play’s opening run in 1895, Wilde was arrested for gross indecency after the exposure of his homosexual lifestyle, bringing a tragically early end to his own brilliant career.