There’s something Constance Middleton’s friends are dying to tell her: her husband is having an affair – with her best friend! Despite their hints, Constance remains ever cool, and seemingly oblivious. Or is she? In this biting comedy of manners, marriages and mistresses, Constance – a not-so-desperate housewife - has some ideas of her own about extra-marital activity that surprise everyone in the end!
An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance starring Kate Burton as Constance Middleton, Rosalind Ayres as Barbara Fawcett, Mark Capri as Bentley/Mortimer Durham, Stephen Collins as Bernard Kersal, John De Lancie as John Middleton, F.R.C.S., Jen Dede as Marie-Louise Durham, Christina Pickles as Mrs. Culver, and Kirsten Potter as Martha Culver, and with live sound effects by Tony Palermo.
(P)2011 L.A. Theatre Works
"Fun and frothy, but with a bit of a bite!"
An interesting entry from the LA TheatreWorks collection. Before buying this download, I had heard of this Somerset Maugham play, but I had never seen/heard it performed. It sounds much like a Noel Coward play, in style and wit, although it is less humorous and has a relatively serious undertone re man/woman relationships. The cast is uniformly excellent--bringing out the charm and the underlying social significance of the play--but both Kate Burton and Rosalind Ayres merit special mention. All the actresses come off better than the actors, but this is the nature of the play, which views men essentially as damn fools and women as either wise or scheming cats--but cats nonetheless. (Again, very much a Noel Coward stance!) Altogether, it is good fun, and you will certainly not regret selecting this play for your collection. I give it four out of five stars, and I will be listening to it again and again for the excellently deft touch of the actors.