An Ideal Husband

Life is too important to be talked about seriously, Oscar Wilde used to say with his characteristic wit. But what about the ideal? The ideal of life? The ideal of a man, the ideal of a woman? In his magnificent comedy "An Ideal Husband," Oscar Wilde weaves a complex intrigue involving blackmail, a glittering present and a dark past, friendship and love, loyalty and betrayal, to prove that truth is rarely pure and never simple. Everyone in English high society is convinced that Sir Robert Chiltern is a model of integrity, the ideal husband and the ideal man. But circumstances place the beautiful Mrs. Cheveley in his path, who in the most charming way asks him to do rather uncharming things. "An Ideal Husband" presents all this and many other amusing intrigues and comic situations with brilliant humor and insight. "An Ideal Husband" – a light comedy with serious content. The ideal. The ideal of life. The ideal of a man, the ideal of a woman. The ability to distinguish one's own ambition and the ambitions of those close to you from the constrained appearance of the impossible striving at all costs to preserve the Ideal! I believe this comedy is a magnificent weapon with which to approach a critique of our society. In it, laughter brings with it the discomfort and pleasure of seeing others make your mistakes, and it also serves as a conduit for a political lesson always present in Oscar Wilde's works. And although time and culture are different from the time and culture in our world now, in this play Oscar Wilde speaks of corruption, but also of respect for the other, which should not be confused with the blind desire to subordinate the other to one's own desires, as well as the price that everyone must pay for their actions! I have always thought that theater is an extraordinary means of communication. The charm and magic of theater lie in the fact that a group of people gathers to trace and recreate a story told by another group of people. And through this created illusion, a new truth is born and a peculiar correspondence with everyone's life. Oscar Wilde's freedom and courage are manifested both in paradox and through paradox. He asks what love is when this love does not accept the beloved creature as it is. He also asks whether errors in our judgments and verdicts should be paid for at such a high price. He also asks whether every person is not made of an artfully mixed blend of qualities and flaws. In his play, Oscar Wilde tests all human relationships as man-woman, father-son, friendship, and praises the lightness, frivolity, and freedom of spirit. Life is too important to be talked about seriously, he said. I wanted to play with the dual image of the mirror, which reflects us as we are, but also slightly deformed, and which reminds us that the image is fleeting and probably less important than the content of a thought, as well as the danger of the connection between them. I wanted to show the crude and rough mechanisms to highlight the fragility of refinement. Thierry Arcour