The brilliant reviews for An Ideal Husband made me particularly excited to see the play. As the programme comments: Oscar Wilde‘s play is a “stylish critique of politicians and social morality”. I was immediately reminded of the J. B. Priestley play I saw a few weeks earlier, When we are Married. Both productions have a Victorian grandeur and an eloquent comedic buzz.

The action happens over 48 hours when a devastating political scandal about successful Government minister, Sir Robert Chilton is brought about by the conniving Mrs Cheveley. A secret from the distant past manages to turn all their lives upside down, with agonisingly hilarious consequences.

Elliot Cowan is absolutely delightful as the smug Viscount Goring. The play is a mixture of serious subject matter and farcical script and Cowan captures this combination beautifully. He strides about the stage with an air of calm charisma; he is clearly enjoying himself and that makes him very likeable. Rachael Stirling is powerful as the “ideal wife” Lady Chiltern, but I found her a tad irritating to watch after a while.  I was pleased to see Fiona Button as the chirpy Miss Mabel Chiltern, I previously saw her in TV series Lip Service and she interacts adorably with Cowan. Samantha Bond causes a stir as blackmailing Mrs Cheveley, known for her part in the Bond films, she is a familiar face to the audience. She occasionally stumbled over her words but was impressive and commands attention in her glorious gowns.

An Ideal Husband continues at The Vaudeville Theatre until 19 Feb 2011, book An Ideal Husband tickets here.

Secondly, there’s a lot of excitement in my household over the news that Complicite’s A Disappearing Number is coming back to London. Book now to see the production’s original cast at the Novello Theatre for a limited run between 10 and 25 September.

Casting news this week includes

• Tom Burke (Alan Rickman’s godson, no less), Lisa Dillon (from the BBC’s Cranford) and Olivier-award winner Andrew Scott take on Noel Coward’s Design For Living at the Old Vic in September
• Ella Smith, who won a heap of awards for her performance in Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig in 2008 is back. She’ll play in Bedlam at Shakespeare’s Globe also from September
• Real life husband and wife Alexander Hanson and Samantha Bond will play husband and wife in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre from 4 November
• And Gina McKee, last seen on the London stage in the brilliant Ivanov, will star alongside Derek Jacobi in a star-laden King Lear at the Donmar Warehouse this Christmas

And finally for this week, Kids Week is going to have to rethink its name, following a hugely successful promotion in 2010. The project, which offers one free child’s ticket (aged 5 to 16) with every full paying adult for a whole load of London’s most popular shows, has now extended into a THIRD week. It’ll now run from 13 August to 3 September. Apparantly, they’ve sold more than 40,000 tickets for performances during its original fortnight (13 to 27 August) since booking opened on 13 July. Incredible!

More information about Kids Week, including travel, accommodation and restaurants, can be found at www.kidsweek.co.uk.