Having performed five seasons with Jon Cocteau Repertory and numerous productions with Metropolitan Playhouse, actress Amanda Jones, currently starring in Sink or Swim Rep‘s production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband as Mrs. Cheveley, is no stranger to wit, lace and cunning plots on stage. She seems to entrance audiences and critics alike; her past performances have been delectably described as “nuanced”, “confident” and “delicate” by such as the New York Times.

She played the title role in the successful Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh not only in New York City, but continued on with the show in it’s regional transfer and  return to the New York stage.

The secret to her success? I think we can find some clues in the following interview.

Amanda Jones

When did you know you wanted to be an actress?

My mom put me in an acting class for kids at a community college when I was in kindergarten. After that, I took every opportunity to be in a play or musical; and being an actress (along with archaeologist and lawyer) was always on my list whenever people asked what I wanted to do when I grew up; but I don’t think I really knew ’til I was about to graduate from college. Almost everyone I knew was going to med school or law school or going through corporate recruiting and none of that interested me. I looked back over my college career and realized I had done something like 14 plays in 4 years. I thought, “This is what I want to do. This is what I LOVE to do. Rather than go work for some bank just because everyone else is doing it, I should go to New York and become an actor. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll do something else; but if I don’t do this now, I may come to regret it.”

Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh

I auditioned for the first production of the play at NJ Rep. The playwright, Joel Gross, kept staring at me, and when I was leaving, he blurted “You look so much like her [Marie Antoinette]!” It’s certainly not something I ever expected to hear, and so even though I wasn’t able to do that production I became obsessed with her. I read the Antonia Fraser biography, and when I scheduled a vacation to Paris, I made sure to include a side trip to Versailles. I walked through the palace, through her bedroom, and out to the Petit Trianon, where she spent much of her time after the king gave it to her as a gift. It’s so far from the palace – like a 45-minute walk – that it gives you a real sense of her desire for privacy. This trip happened only a month or two before I was cast in the New York production, so it was quite fortuitous. I read another book, Queen of Fashion, that theorized Marie Antoinette used style as a way to become popular and powerful in the eyes of the French people. The three actors together poured over a book from the Met exhibit “Dangerous Liaisons” that portrayed clothing of the period. Incidentally, I was just rereading the book Dangerous Liaisons, and apparently the Queen had a copy! She’s a very easy subject for research, because people were fascinated with her. There’s just so much information, and research is one of my favorite parts of preparing for a period piece.

It seems you have a passion for period plays or they seem to follow you. What excites you about these plays?

The plays definitely follow me because of the way I look, but I also seek them out. Growing up I read lots of Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, Elliot; and I think my love of acting grew out of a desire to crawl inside those books, and live there for a few hours. The language of period plays is beautiful and complex and a pleasure to speak. The parts I’ve acted in these plays have often been

The Importance of Being Earnest

women of wit and intelligence, compassion and such pure joy that I wish I were more like them. And of course, the costumes are amazing.

You’ve worked on Wilde before. What for you makes his women so delicious to portray?

Wilde’s women are assertive and often the drivers of action. Cecily and Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest are not merely love objects for the men; they are the ones who force action on Jack and Algernon. An Ideal Husband has a villainess – and the main conflict of the play is between her and Lady Chiltern. And they are bearers of both great wit and wonderful nonsense. I think Cecily Cardew is still one of my favorite roles ever. The romance that she builds with Earnest entirely in her head, and then the confident way she brings Algernon into it the moment she meet him, is just so much fun.

What can we expect from the Sink or Swim Rep’s production of An Ideal Husband?

Cyrano

Based on the audience reaction at the first preview: pretty much wall-to-wall hilarity. Intrigue and romance; beautiful costumes from Ryan Moeller; a simple but lovely set; and great direction and performances all around.

If you decide to go to graduate school, go early and go to the best one you can. Be judicious in deciding who teaches you – get recommendations from people you trust, and if the teacher won’t let you at least audit a class, they’re very suspect. Don’t be afraid to ask anyone – and I mean anyone, up to and including Meryl Streep – for help or advice. Be persistent about contacting people who hire, and letting them know who you are and what you’re doing. Even if you have a place in a company of actors, you should always be keeping feelers out for your next job. If you decide to set up a website, do it yourself so you can update it yourself. Decide when you are going to stop saying “yes” to everything and when you are going to start doing only projects you really like, and trust your gut. If the audition is a nightmare, the production could be too.

The Sink or Swim Rep‘s production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband plays through Sunday, July 29th at The Connelly Theater (220 East 4th St, NYC).

For more information visit www.SinkorSwimRep.org

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Not all plays written in 1893 can weather an update; something is bound to be sacrificed for the sake of modernizing, be it plot, character or theme. But An Ideal Husband is not all plays. Writer Oscar Wilde was a man who had an uncanny ability to write about the time he was living in and observing, while simultaneously writing far ahead of his time; and thus An Ideal Husband in the hands of Director Meghan Formwalt of Big Rodent productions, joyfully skips ahead 70 years to 1964 with hardly a wrinkle to show for the long journey.

The moment you lay eyes on Mrs. Cheveley (Anna Bridgforth) as she strides across the room in her peekaboo mini-dress and her fiery orange glossy wig you know this is a woman who is destined to be the center of attention. Yet, within five minutes of opening her mouth she’ll also summarily put you in your place – this is no common party gal, this is a woman who is much smarter than those around may give her credit for, and you’d be best to stay on her good side . . . which in this case is the side furthest away from her. Like Melanie Griffith’s Working Girl, Cheveley has a brain for business and a bod for sin . . .and she uses both to distract, con and manipulate those around her.

We meet this whirlwind of a woman at the home of the Chilterns on the night of a party where anyone who is anyone in London Society is in attendance. There is, of course, the mistress of the house, the proper and lovely Lady Chiltern (Sarah Krokey) who never misspeaks and never missteps. She and Mrs. Cheveley were at school together (and despised each other); when seeing them in each other’s company it’s obvious they’re as different as night and day. Lady Chiltern’s husband, Sir Robert Chiltern (Adam Aguirre) is as utterly devoted to his wife as he is to upholding his principals as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in The House of Commons. He’s noble, but like any good main character – he’s hiding something. Lord Goring (Joe Mathers) is the quintessential Wilde character – the playboy, the dandy, the observer.  He’s the best dressed, is utterly charming, utterly quotable (“I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself”) and he’s reasonably devoted to his friends provided he can tear himself away from his own reflection for a moment.

Soon enough Lady Chiltern gets Sir Robert alone and spills her plan – she’s blackmailing him with information she has about the Suez Canal and . . . well . . . this part’s not very interesting. Frankly, she could be blackmailing him about cats for all it really matters – the point is, she’s got dirt on him, and in order for him to stay pure, both in the eyes of his fellow members of the House as well as in the eyes of his loving wife, he’ll do as she says.  With an arched brow and knowing look she’s off to let Sir Robert chew on that.

Wilde was a master at pointing out that the idle rich have everything they need, yet still manage to muck it up. Filled with all the plummy lush language you come to expect from Wilde characters, Husband plays, at times with all the trials of a great Shakespearean Tragedy. All the big tormentors are there: love, honor, deceit, trust, duplicity. As Lord Goring says “No one is incapable of doing a foolish thing . . . No one is incapable of doing a wrong thing”. There’s plotting, double plotting, entrapment, hiding behind doors, listening at keyholes and filching private letters.

Now, before you go rending your garments, it’s not all sturm und drang. There’s quite a lot of folly in this play as well; Mabel Chiltern (Leigh Poulos) is, by her own admission, “the most ornamental person in London” and spends most of her days turning down marriage proposals from unseen suitor Tommy Trafford who always proposes on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the Season. (Tommy however, is not the Ideal Husband of the title).

There’s also Lady Markby (Colleen Conroy), a chatterbox who talks a lot and says nothing but seems to enjoy having tea at the various homes of her neighbors.  Mix it all together and you’ve got a fantastically entertaining two hours that brings moments of unbridled arguing, heartwrenching declarations of love, and enough sixties hits to keep your toes tapping through each scene change.  Wrap it all up with a shiny bow in the final scene and you’ve got Wilde at his best.

Without a doubt this cast is absolutely fantastic; they come together terrifically as an ensemble, but can each hold their own when their dramatic turn arrives.  Bridgeforth’s Mrs. Cheveley commands her scenes and never waivers; she has you right where she wants you the entire time.  Balancing her is the wonderful Krokey who imbues Lady Chiltern with all the poise and elegance of a true English Lady while still managing to bring out the layers of a woman who is guilty of the sin of trusting too deeply.  Krokey brings out Chiltern’s vulnerabilities without showing them as weaknesses.  Mathers’ Goring is, of course, the flower in the buttonhole of this play; he knows exactly where to take this character without pushing it too far — making Goring the delightful dandy that he was meant to be.  In another actors hands this role might have gone over the top, but Mathers takes the audience by the arm and winks at us.  He’s a joy to watch.  Aguirre’s Sir Robert ties the ensemble together; he flawlessly moves between all these counterpoints and brings the anguish of his character to a level of genuine emotion.

Tied all together with great costumes designed by Kerry Gibbons this update sings.  Without a doubt, this production of Wilde’s work is Ideal.  Get there while you still can.

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THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – BUT YOU CAN STILL CHECK OUT THE SHOW!

It’s not every day that we get to offer An Ideal Husband to someone as a gift – but that’s exactly what The Happiest Medium is doing this month!  Okay, so it’s not a real husband, but if you’re a fan of Oscar Wilde at his best then you’ll want to get your hands on these tickets any way you can.  So, try and win a pair from us first – one lucky winner will walk away with two seats to the night of their choice!

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Big Rodent  is producing Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband at Wings Theater (154 Christopher St., West Village, NYC)  from July 15-24. Oscar Wilde’s dark and witty comedy, now set in a time of Mods vs. Rockers, Prewar vs. Postwar, and Society vs. Free Love. Greed, guilt, and love all vie to control the fate of a family, and all in time to get supper at the club!

One lucky grand prize winner will receive:

• A pair of tickets to An Ideal Husband good for any night during the run (July 15 – 24)

To enter, correctly answer the following question:

Q. What YEAR does this updated version of An Ideal Husband take place?

(Wanna hint? Check out the artwork)

Email us your answer with your first and last name to giveaways@thehappiestmedium.com, all entries must be received by Wednesday July 14th.

Click here for contest guidelines.

Good luck!

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