AN IDEAL COMEDY Peninsula College Players Nick Stuber and Colby Thomas rehearse in full costume two weeks before opening night. P.C. Players presents turn-of-the-century humor playby AVANI NADKARNIStaff writer Blackmail, political corruption and public honor. Those aren’t topics you’d usually relate with comedy or college students, but they are the themes behind the Peninsula College Players’ newest production. “An Ideal Husband,” an 1895 stage play by famed author Oscar Wilde, is set in turn-of-the-20th-century, high-society London. It has been made into feature films in 1947, 1998 and 1999. P.C. Players director Matt Vadnais said he chose the piece for the Players because of the humor and unconventional nature of the characters. “No one writes with more electricity and wit than Wilde,” Vadnais said. “His characters defy social convention — of their time and ours — and offer archetypes that contemporary comedies ? continue to follow.” The comedy begins at the home of Sir Robert Chiltern, a member of the House of Commons, and his wife, Lady Chiltern, played by Quinton Chastain and Susan Achurra. During a lavish dinner party, one guest, Lady Cheveley, a long-time nemesis of Lady Chiltern, blackmails Sir Robert into backing a deceptive scam. Lady Cheveley finds out and grows angry — Sir Robert must remain the “ideal husband” and scandal-free — and so the story begins. Vadnais said that while they have kept the language of the play in tact, they have tried to make it more understandable to the modern public. “Certainly we’ve trimmed some of the language, we’ve tried to make it a bit more accessible,” he said. “I don’t think it needs to be traditional to understand the themes that Wilde was trying to get across.” For the production, the Players are concentrating on every detail. At a rehearsal two weeks before opening day, the cast members poured over dozens of dresses and suits that were carefully chosen to reflect the British upper class and the time period. “Find something that you feel fits your character,” Vadnais instructed them, explaining that he was confident that the cast members had a full handle on the person they were playing. “We’re making most of the women’s costumes,” Vadnais added. “We want them to be authentic.” The cast of 11, many of whom are not students according to member Jessica Barnett, has been practicing since early October, when Vadnais announced the cast list. “It’s been a little frantic,” Vadnais said of canceled practices due to holidays and other interruptions. Still, the actors are immersing themselves in the play. Actors Caitlin Rich and Buddy Walters immediately broke into dialogue — even before greeting each other at one rehearsal. “We want to put on a good performance,” Rich said. For Vadnais, the script and the cast are both, well, ideal. “’An Ideal Husband’ is an ideal comedy and (an) introduction to one of the most influential scriptwriters in the history of stage and screen,” he said. “The questions it asks are the same questions we’re struggling with today.” Old-time humor for the modern day
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