The Constant Wife, W Somerset Maughan by The Tower Theatre Company February 23, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , trackbackA piece in the guardian yesterday bemoaned the way contemporary rom-coms show pathetic women focused on little but men and manolos. I’m as up for pretty candy-floss for the brain as anyone, but ‘He’s Just Not that Into You’ and ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ don’t appeal much. My chick flick heroines need to be a little, well, heroic, and to have some self-respect and brains.
So this revival of W Somerset Maugham’s classic twenties drawing room comedy ‘The Constant Wife’ was good fun, with the added bonus of gorgeous flapper dresses. It’s of its time, and the stereotypes are rather dated, but the essential idea that a woman may have the same economic and sexual freedom her husband takes for granted must have been subversive in 1926.
It’s witty and entertaining, with a nice twist at the end. Vicky Young plays Constance Middleton, the wife who thoroughly understands her husband and is determined to make a life which works for everyone, by no means least herself, with aplomb. She has a hard act to follow – the part was first played in 1927 by Ethel Barrymore, great-aunt of Drew and proposed to by Churchill. W Somerset Maugham said her performance was the best in any of his plays.
Gemma Hutchinson is delightful as the airhead flapper who is Constance’s best friend and her husband’s mistriss. Alex Barker takes a while to get into his stride as the husband John Middleton, but comes into his own at the end, as the knife turns and he realises that he is powerless to prevent Constance will get her own way.
The Tower Theatre Company is non-professional, but the production was easily as good as many fringe or smaller professional productions.
The Constant Wife finished at the Bridewell Theatre on Saturday, 21 Feb.
Comments»
I thoroughly enjoyed the production. Agreed totally with the comments about Gemma.