The Constant Wife. Theatre Royal Bath.
By Harry Mottram: A witty feminist comedy of modern ill-manners – despite director Laura Wade’s production of The Constant Wife being penned in the 1920s – when not all women had the vote. And that is in part due to writer Laura Wade’s input in updating Somerset Maugham’s seemingly light comedy which is underlaid with a sharp satire of society’s attitudes to marriage, infidelity and the unequal status of the sexes. The drawing room drama dares to puncture the pomposity of male attitudes to relationships in which men can do as they like and women are submissive and obedient. Except the protagonist Constance upends the status quo in her journey to personal freedom proving women can have it all – although only if they are in the moneyed upper middle classes as Constance still relied on her butler.
Written in 1926 while the rest of Britain were involved in a General Strike – in Maugham’s world a different strike was taking place: the battle of the posh sexes. Constance Middleton (Kara Tointon) knew perfectly well that husband John was having an affair with sexy Marie-Louise Durham (Constance’s best friend). Marie-Louise’s cuckold husband Mortimer (Jules Brown) fell foul of the not entirely innocent Constance who committed wilful perjury to cover up her husband’s infidelity. There was little evidence of Constance’s and Marie-Louise’s sisterly bond in this production of the play at Theatre Royal Bath as they seemed at times like two competing women in TV’s Married at First Sight, and as likely as buddies as Germaine Greer and Paris Hilton.
The living room with its art deco décor was the setting for this early 20th century gender war in which women had the last words that ‘forgiveness is sweeter than revenge’ and men were exposed as chumps. So many great lines about men and women and long-term relationships. On man-flu Constance says: “And they’re so helpless. Have you never nursed a man when he’s ill? It’s just like a dog or a horse. They haven’t got the sense to come in out of the rain, poor darlings.” And on confronting her husband’s infidelity: “Oh, my dear, you mustn’t be offended just because I’ve taken away from you the satisfaction of thinking that you have been deceiving me all these months.”
This is a beautiful and stylish production set in a very different world from today but Maugham’s script has universal truths: “A man thinks it quite natural that he should fall out of love with a woman, but it never strikes him for a moment that a woman can do anything so unnatural as to fall out of love with him.”
And Maugham had a particular understanding of relationships being gay but locked into an unhappy marriage with Syrie whom he despised – at a time when being gay was illegal. The undercover gay in the drama is Bentley the butler played brilliantly by Philip Rham who pops the balloon of Edwardian homophobia with his subtle confession and body language with Constance suggesting inner depths to his subservient status.
Kara Tointon as Constance was the, ‘…most maddening, wilful, capricious, wrong-headed, delightful and enchanting woman…’ in the words of her husband – holding forth throughout the two hour play with confidence, commitment and a complete sense of her character in a pitch perfect performance – despite her irritatingly knowing-it-all persona. Her wardrobe by Anna Fleischle was divine – especially her black and silver dressing gown and peach trouser suit. A shout out to the designers in general and to the lighting expert Sally Ferguson whose scene closing and opening sequences were a delight.
Tim Delap as snotty duplicitous John Middleton strutted and snorted his way around the stage with the right amount of indignation and medical excuses to spend time examining rather more of Marie-Louise’s knee. There was a wonderfully saucy moment between the two when she was literally caught with her drawers down.
Sara Crowe as Mrs Culver – Constance’s well-dressed mum – gave sage advice to her daughter – despite looking barely older than a big sister. Like some in the cast her words were under powered at first but picked up volume as the story unfolded. Alex Mugnaioni as Constance’s love interest Bernard could have been a rather two-dimensional character in the play, but Alex gave him considerable humour with the minimum of help from the script with pauses and body language – and a great scarf. While brilliant Amy Vicary-Smith as Martha had far more lines to establish herself as every bit the modern entrepreneur and liberated businesswoman who helped Constance to become the best version of herself through doing an honest day’s work.
Fabulous set and costumes, excellent performances and some brilliant lines in a production composed like a well-made cocktail. A full house lapped up the dialogue and laughed at all of Maugham’s jokes. A period piece yes. Is Somerset Maugham still relevant, yes. And does this 1926 drawing room drama have something to say a century later about relationships, feminism and marriage? Definitely.
The play runs until Saturday, May 11th, 2026 at the Theatre Royal Bath.
Tickets and information at https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/events/the-constant-wife/
The Constant Wife was a David Pugh and Cunard presentation of The Royal Shakespeare Company production prior to a run in London’s West End following its tour.
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