The Constant Wife description
A wife discovers her husband's affair, and decides that the useful question is not whether to forgive him but what she is worth.
Constance Middleton is married to John, a successful Harley Street surgeon. Everyone in their circle knows he is having an affair with her closest friend, Marie-Louise, and everyone is waiting to see how long Constance will go on pretending not to notice. When the affair is finally forced into the open, she declines the role of injured party. Instead she points out that a wife kept in comfort has been paid for her services, works out what she owes, and takes a job in order to settle the account.
The Constant Wife was written by W. Somerset Maugham and first performed in 1926. It has outlasted most drawing-room comedies of its period because its argument is economic rather than sentimental: Constance treats marriage as a contract and reasons her way out of it. This staging is a new adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The adaptation is by Laura Wade, who won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy for Home, I'm Darling and also wrote Posh and The Watsons. It is directed by Tamara Harvey, co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with original music by Jamie Cullum.
Casting and venue for the London run have not yet been announced.
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