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Sinodun Players

THE CONSTANT WIFE

By W Somerset Maugham
Director Chris Harris and Natalie Davies

Characters

Bentley A butler, is essential but has few lines; the three main chaps are all 40ish
Mortimer Has only one scene but it is explosive and challenging
John A successful surgeon
Bernard Constances longstanding admirer
Constance Johns wife, is 35. This is a big and challenging part
Mrs Culver Is old enough to be Constances mother
Martha Mrs Culver’s younger daughter
Barbara A smaller but worthwhile part, is 40s or over and is a businesswoman
Marie-Louise Perhaps late 20s, is Mortimers wife…. And rather more.

Trust me on this: the play is an absolute belter, with the bonus of not being overfamiliar.

On the surface it is the archetypal sophisticated light comedy written for the West End at perhaps its commercial peak. We are in the late 1920s, a fabulous period for frocks and for design in general. The characters are wealthy, their dialogue witty to a fault, the situations piquants, the construction immaculate. Add Maughams name at the very height of his success, and the coefficient of wealthy bums on red plush seats must have been near 100%. And yet …. Well: expect shock waves through the theatre, even today. An extraordinary piece, full (says one source) of polished malice’. Indeed so though even
fuller of good laughs.

 

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