An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde
An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde
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An Ideal Husband

Author: Oscar Wilde

Narrator: Jacqueline Bisset, Alfred Molina, Full Cast

Unabridged: 1 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2001


Synopsis

A tender love story, a serpentine villainess, a glittering setting in London society and a shower of Wildean witticisms are only a few of the reasons this play has enjoyed hugely successful revivals in London and New York. This 1895 drama also seems eerily prescient, as it explores the plight of a promising young politician, desperate to hide a secret in his past. With empathy and wit, Wilde explores the pitfalls of holding public figures to higher standards than the rest of us.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Rosalind Ayres, Jacqueline Bisset, Paul Gutrecht, Martin Jarvis, Robert Machray, Miriam Margolyes, Alfred Molina, Jim Norton and Yeardley Smith.

About Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854. He excelled at Trinity College in Dublin from 1871 to 1874, eventually winning a scholarship to Magdalene College in Oxford, which he entered in 1875. The biggest influences on his development as an artist at this time were Swinburne, Walter Pater, and John Ruskin.

In 1875, Wilde began publishing poetry in literary magazines. In 1876 he found himself back in Ireland when the death of his father left the family with several debts. Wilde continued writing poetry in earnest, and in 1878, he won the coveted Newdigate Prize for English poetry. He soon left Oxford to build himself a reputation among the literati in London.

During the 1880s, Wilde established himself as a writer, poet, and lecturer, but above all as a "professor of aesthetics." In 1884, he married Constance Lloyd in London. Sons soon followed: Cyril in 1885 and Vyvyan in 1886. During these years, Wilde worked as a journalist and reviewer, while also continuing with his other writing of poetry and plays. In 1890 he published his well-known story The Picture of Dorian Gray. The early 1890s were the most intellectually productive and fruitful time for Wilde. Some of his most familiar plays-including Lady Windemere's Fan and Salome-were written and performed upon the London stages. In 1893 Wilde produced A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband, followed in 1894 by The Importance of Being Earnest.

Wilde's life took a turn for the worst when, in May 1895, he was convicted of engaging in homosexual acts, which were then illegal, and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor. He soon declared bankruptcy, and his property was auctioned off. In 1896, Wilde lost legal custody of his children. When his mother died that same year, his wife Constance visited him at the jail to bring him the news. It was the last time they saw each other. In the years after his release, Wilde's health deteriorated. In November 1900, he died in Paris at the age of forty-six.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Meghhnaa on November 25, 2022

This play belonging to the 1890s depicts the hypocritical aristocratic group of people from London. It in all perceptibility and plausibility delineates that the concept of “an ideal husband” is just a misnomer 😊It is just titular! Women end up idolizing their husbands, silhouetting them in an imag......more

Goodreads review by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ on November 12, 2019

An Ideal Husband is an 1895 play by Oscar Wilde, his third most popular work after The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In it Wilde explores hypocrisy, corruption, forgiveness and other themes with his trademark epigrammatic humor. Sir Robert Chiltern, a moral, upstanding......more

Goodreads review by Anne on February 03, 2024

Don't put your partner on a pedestal. That's really the first mistake you make in a relationship. Except for those people who write jailhouse love letters to serial killers. But that's a whole nother level of mistake and Wilde didn't cover it in this particular play. Ok, so if you don't already know,......more

Goodreads review by Vanessa on July 01, 2015

I'm going to say this for the millionth time: Oscar Wilde is a freaking genius. Everything he writes is pure gold. I love his sense of humour, and his writing. He was a great man (treated badly by the society in which he lived) and a great writer too. I wish I could let him know that. This play was a......more