An Ideal Husband | Director's Note from Nicholai La Barrie
19 May 2026
At its heart, An Ideal Husband is a play about lying...
Oscar Wilde poses a deceptively simple question: if we lie to the people we love, can we be forgiven and should we be? Sir Robert Chiltern spends the play running from his past, while Mrs Cheveley arrives determined to expose it.
In a world built on image and performance, it is perhaps the most seemingly frivolous man in London who proves to be the most honest.
This 2026 reimagining places Wilde’s classic firmly in our present moment. Set within today’s political landscape, this production embraces a heightened, meta-theatrical world that is bold, self-aware, and unapologetically opulent. With an all-Black cast, we explore questions of power, respectability, and public image through a lens that feels both urgent and necessary.
The play is incredibly funny, but it is also, at its core, a love story. I’m drawn to its belief in the endurance of commitment — the idea that choosing to stand beside someone, even in their imperfection, is a radical act. In a world where truth feels increasingly unstable and loyalty can feel conditional, there is something deeply human in asking what it really means to stay.
This story feels timely. It asks us to consider the people we choose to trust, the ones we place in positions of power, and whether the ideals we demand of them are human or impossible.
It has been a joy to work with this extraordinary cast and creative team to bring this classic to the Bristol Old Vic stage. Together, we hope to honour Wilde’s wit while revealing the urgency that still pulses beneath it.
Nicholai La Barrie, Director of An Ideal Husband
Lyric Associate Director
