Somerset Maugham’s “The
Constant Wife” is a fun-filled script that satirizes marital manners among members
of British upper class in the 1920’s.
Columbus Civic Theater’s current production
features Britt Kline as Constance Middleton, the cleverly faithful wife to Dr.
John Middleton (Ben Turner) who has been having a long-term affair with Constance’s
best friend Marie Louise Durham (Nikki Rehmert).
As the show opens, Constance’s sister Martha
Culver (Julia Cannel) rushes to warn Constance of her husband’s cuckoldry and
is headed off by their mother, Mrs. Culver (Cheryl Muller). At the same time, a family friend, Barbara
Fawcett (Leslie Robinson) shows up to add her support and to offer Constance a
job as an interior decorator. Constance
protests her loyalty and faithfulness to her husband and her best friend and
with her mother’s help, shuts out any discouraging words from Martha or Barbara
about exposing and divorcing John.
A former suitor, Bernard Kersel (Dan
Griscom) has just returned from pursuing his trading business in China and visits
Constance to proclaim that he is still in love with her. Constance flirts with him while declaring her
faithfulness and loyalty to John.
The action comes to a hilarious intersection
when the affair is publicly exposed and Constance acknowledges that she has been aware
of the situation from the beginning.
In the third act Constance takes her own
clever revenge by accepting Barbara’s job offer and “paying her husband back”.
Director Richard Albert elects to depict the
fully nuanced, high-brow attitudes, accents and gestures that would have been
typical among British aristocrats of that era.
Dialect Coach Ryan Long has done an excellent job of advising and
assisting with the British pronunciations and inflections.
Kline exudes confident intelligence and has excellent
gestures and timing as does Muller. Maugham has
gifted Constance and Mrs. Culver with the best remarks. Both Kline and Muller deliver the lines with
great panache and style.
Cannel has good stage presence and excellent
command of her lines, though she seems a bit shrill at times.
Turner is handsome and elegant. He equals
Kline’s energy which produces a playful synergy in the relationship between
Constance and John, making the civility of their disagreements especially delicious.
Rehmert is pretty and injects a delightful innocence into her role, which
is both attractive and funny in its deliberate understatement.
Griscom looks good on stage and seems to
know his lines, but there are moments when his characterization wobbles. The intense anger that Kersel directs toward
Martha at the beginning of Act two is surprising and lacks motivation. This may have been the result of
mis-direction from Albert.
Robinson is solid and steady in her portrayal. The affectations in her voice inflection with certain phrases is probably intended to help give her character a definitive style, but I found it unnecessary and annoying.
Miles
Drake brings his patented steadiness to the butler role as Bentley
Scott Clay bursts in for a few high-pitched
bombastic moments as Mary Louise’s wronged husband, Mortimer.
Costumer Greg Smith has obviously enjoyed
putting together attractive, colorful matching dresses, purses and hats for the
ladies’ multiple outfits. Muller’s flamboyant first-act headdress partially
obscures her facial expressions which are such a delightful portion of her
portrayal.
The set design by Albert creates the sense
of an elegant drawing room in the Middleton home while allowing enough space
for actors to flow and interact on the tiny Columbus Civic stage.
The three-act show is lengthly at about two
hours and 45 minutes with two intermissions.
Some of the banter is repetitive and a bit tedious, but the
overall pacing is good and the play does a reasonable job of holding the
audience’s attention.
“The Constant Wife” gets much praise for its
many memorable lines.
“I may be unfaithful but at least I am
constant,” Constance says in the quote that gives the play its title.
For me, one of the funniest lines comes when
Constance is explaining her plans to go away with Kersel, leaving John behind.
“Don’t you think it’s a mistake for husbands and wives to take their holidays
together?”
Maugham is said to have been among playwright
pioneers who poignantly brought issues of marital infidelity to the stage.
This Columbus Civic production provides a
pleasant and entertaining theatre experience.
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