THE CONSTANT WIFE | UK TOUR @ FESTIVAL THEATRE, EDINBURGH
★★★
“An enjoyable evening of period drama…”
Everyone is ‘terribly, terribly’ in this comfortable reimagining of Somerset Maugham’s comedy of manners from the RSC, which is just as it should be. Set in the Roaring Twenties, this new version of The Constant Wife, by Laura Wade, remains a period piece, set in an era in which social attitudes to love and marriage were in flux.
Set at a time when the Suffragettes’ campaign was fresh in the collective consciousness, the inequality of the sexes, specifically within the confines of holy matrimony, were beginning to be challenged. Wade’s reimagining of Maugham’s feminist play is a genteel affair with anger, resentment and even a touch of relief, simmering never far from the surface.
Constance Middleton has everything; a loving family, beautiful home, exciting career, and a dentist husband of 15 years who is as devoted to her… as he is to his mistress. When her ‘perfect’ set up is threatened, Constance fights back by breaking every rule in the book. The question is whether or not she can win when up against society’s expectations, a society unnerved by one woman’s determination to do things her way?
As Constance, Kara Tointon is a delight. She crafts a witty, multi-layered character that captures the pain and betrayal of a wronged wife, while masking it with an ever-present bonhomie and fragile self-assurance. It allows for some touchingly dignified, yet melancholic, moments.
Ensuring things never become too serious, Sara Crowe steals her scenes as Mrs Culver with a comic turn that is impeccable in both timing and physicality. However, despite Crowe’s art of delivering the perfect belly laugh, her performance is more than that, awkwardly maternal she brings a pathos to the part that is moving.
As John Middleton, the philandering husband, Tim Delap is the epitome of suave charm and smooth deception, while Gloria Onitiri as his lover and wife’s ‘greatest friend’, Marie-Louise Durham, turns in a delightful overly-dramatic performance that is shamelessly played for laughs. Elsewhere, strong support comes from Philip Rham with a lovely, wistful turn as Bentley, Constance’s devoted family retainer, and Martha Vicary-Smith as her fiercely feminist sister, Martha. Plain-speaking, and naturally indignant, Vicary-Smith creates a woman ahead of her time and is instantly believable.
Director Tamara Harvey effortlessly creates a world in which middle-class chatter and small talk is exposed for its artifice. In part that’s thanks to Wade’s occasionally verbose script which, amongst other things, explores the difference between loving and being in love. While laced with Maughan’s signature irony, it also speaks to modern sensibilities in a way that never quite captures the sophistication of the original.
Anna Flesichle’s evocative set, complete with Art Deco-style touches and the clever use of a translucent backcloth, greatly builds the ambience of the piece as does Jamie Cullum’s incidental jazz score, specially composed for the production.
Maughan’s original source material may have been written 100 years ago this year, but if this production reinforces one thing it is that then, as now, the only true freedom is economic freedom, and ‘the ability to keep oneself’. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Full tour details and tickets HERE
