The Constant Wife by Somerset Maugham

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Friday, October 19th, 2012
Evenings 8 p.m. Matinees 2 p.m.

Set in upper class London in the 1920s, Maugham's popular comedy of modern manners espouses that as long as a wife is supported by her husband she must remain faithful. When the tables are turned, freedom becomes the currency with which both must pay. Constance discovers that her husband is having an affair with her best friend. Rather than humiliating herself and others, she denies the affair, defends the two, and sets about turning bad luck, unfaithful friends, local gossip and a broken heart to her own advantage.

The Constant Wife features many familiar faces - Catriona Black, Jane Guy, Elizabeth Brimacombe, Wendy Cornock, Caroline Mackenzie, Osiris de Korte, Mike Chadwick, Steve Eastman and newcomer Luke Krayenhoff. We welcome Don Keith as Director. Mike Chadwick is Producer and Dave Hitchcock is Stage Manager.


Tickets are available at the door or at Russell Books 734 Fort Street, Amica at Douglas House, Petals Plus Florist 3749 Shelbourne, Ivys Book Shop 2188 Oak Bay Avenue.

The cast and crew have been working tirelessly to create a fantastic show, and it looks as if the opening play for this season will be a run away hit!

Its central character, Constance Middleton, has been married to John, a wealthy doctor, for 15 years. They love one another but their period of romance is over and John is having an affair with Constance�s best friend, Marie- Louise. Constance doesn�t care. She admits that she was vexed until she realized that �it was unreasonable to be angry with John for giving to another what I had no use for�.

The prolific Maugham wrote �The Constant Wife� in 1927, the year of his divorce. Shortly afterwards, he and wartime friend Gerald Haxton would establish a permanent and happy home together; their relationship ended with Haxton�s untimely death in 1944. Maugham wrote a stinging attack on the rise of totalitarianism in Europe in 1939 and was blacklisted by the Gestapo. He had to leave Europe and spent the rest of the war in America. After the war his work became patchy and less pointed; he died a bitter and lonely man, but this play, written during the height of his prowess, is a classic of twentieth century drama � it declares the equality of women in relationships and asserts that adultery is not the sole domain of �mischievous husbands.�

The Constant Wife, a comedy of manners, was written by W. Somerset Maugham in 1926 and later published for general sales in April 1927.

The play was first produced at the Ohio Theatre (Loudonville) Ohio, on November 1, 1926, with Ethel Barrymore playing the title role, and Mabel Terry-Lewis, and C. Aubrey Smith as support. It ran on Broadway for 295 performances, and was successfully toured by Ms. Barrymore afterwards. When the first edition of the play was published in 1927 Maugham dedicated it to her. Years later, he said that her performance was the best he had seen in any of his plays.

The West End premiere at the Strand Theatre in April 1927, starring Fay Compton, was by contrast, a critical and box-office fiasco. Subsequent London revivals have starred Ruth Chatterton (Globe Theatre, 1937); Ingrid Bergman (Albery Theatre, September 1973 � note, John Gielgud�s staging, also starring Ingrid Bergman and Jack Gwillim, was subsequently revived at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway in April 1975); and Jenny Seagrove (Apollo Theatre, April 2002, then transferring to the Lyric Theatre, June 2002).

In December 1951, a revival starring Katharine Cornell was staged for a summer festival in Colorado. It was such a success that Cornell took the production to the National Theatre on Broadway starring herself and Brian Aherne. It grossed more money for Cornell�s production company than any play she and her husband-director Guthrie McClintic ever produced.

Recent revivals include New York City (2005), Minneapolis (2005), and Charleston, SC (2007).

The Constant Wife by W.Somerset Maugham (Jun 2005) Kate Burton, Michael Cumpsty, John Dossett, Lynn Redgrave � American Airlines Theatre