Set in Canberra during the 1990’s, the reworked classic dabbles in political corruption, hypocrisy and blackmail with a queer reimagining of Australian politics.

Brisbane playwright Lewis Treston is relishing the convergence of timing as Australia emerges from one of the most significant elections in recent history.

“We were like, `Oh, the election result is going to affect what laughs we get and the overall effect of the play’,” Treston said.

“That was present in mind that it was an election year when we programmed it.

“It’s sort of a fantasy of the ’90s itself … so if you’re interested in a historical account of what happened in 1996 in Canberra in politics, this might not be the show for you. But if you’re interested in a sort of imaginative exploration and a sort of ’90s Fantasia, this is what this show is doing.”

He’s also revelling in the large cast that was made available to him, something which he says is increasingly unusual in live theatre.

“We’ve got a huge cast of eight actors, which is kind of a rare thing. For La Boite in particular, but any theatre company – it’s very expensive,” he said.

“It’s a host of really talented Queensland artists and everyone in the room is incredibly funny. So I was there for maybe the first week of rehearsals. And we were just cacking ourselves a lot of the time.”

This production follows on from his homage to Jane Austen, “Hubris and Humiliation”, which won the New Play Award in last year’s Australian Theatre Festival in New York.

Treston leaned into the absurdity of politics when adapting The Ideal Husband, and has updated “a tremendous amount” of Oscar Wilde’s script.

But he said the update still rings true with all the aspects that people love about Wilde’s work, with zingy one-liners interspersed with 90’s catchphrases posing age old questions about love, loyalty and the value of relationships.

“A lot of stuff didn’t necessarily age well or needed to be sharpened in terms of the contemporary sensibility,” he said.

“And also I’ve appropriated quotes and all the best bits of Oscar Wilde, not just from An Ideal Husband, but of course from his essays and his personal quotations, and looked at The Importance of Being Earnest.

“I’ve synthesised the best bits of Wilde just because I thought that’s probably what people wanted to hear.”

He said one of his main motivations as a playwright is “fundamentallyI’m always interested in what’s funny.”

“I think if anyone wants to have a fun, sexy and slightly sad night out at this theatre, I think this is the show for them. You get the full treatment,” he said.

“You get funny, sexy and sad with this play. I think that’s satisfying for anyone.

“I take escapism very seriously. It’s such a fundamental part of why we want to engage in the arts and why we want to engage in entertainment.

“For me, it’s sort of a passion, you know what I mean? We need these diversions. We need to have a good laugh, now more than ever, because the real world can be fairly depressing.”

Director Bridget Boyle is a self-confessed political junkie and ‘90s tragic. She said An Ideal Husband is a fast-moving play that’s “part sitcom and part French farce” laced with references from Seinfeld to Clueless, all set to a classic 90’s soundtrack.

“You know, when music was good,” she said.

“There’s a sense of distance and fantasy to the play, it presents a version of life that is far from Utopia and that’s the joy! This idea of “ideal” is blown apart – there’s no such thing as ideal, we’re all flawed, we’re all human and that’s OK.

“And there’s at least one dance routine to a ‘90s banger!”

An Ideal Husband runs at La Boite from July 18 to August 6.