The Festival Theatre’s latest witty arrival is Laura Wade’s adaptation of The Constant Wife which is based on W. Somerset Maugham’s comedy about marriage and infidelity. The play satirises Constance Middleton’s response to her husband’s affair with her best friend. Director Tamara Harvey’s production is a sharp display of secrecy, sceptical forgiveness and humorously karmic deceit.
As the play’s central concern is domestic affairs, it is performed entirely in a living room, where smooth, effective set changes denote transitions in time. The set and music captures the spirit of the 1920s original play, with jazz piano playing and the fashionable features of the bourgeoisie. The costumes are strikingly colourful, with accessories that meticulously complement the actors’ characterisation. Due to the lack of microphones, dialogue was a little on the quiet side, although these may just be teething issues given this was night one in Edinburgh.
A highlight for me was the metatheatrical moments, including Constance’s references to wanting to catch the second act of ‘The Constant Wife’, a play she thinks may be quite dull because it’s about marriage. The characters continually make references to the play’s unreality, and the humour was euphemistic and suggestive, whilst also radically responding to the hypocrisies of heteronormative marriage and female autonomy.
Kara Tointon’s performance as Constance was a powerful display of versatility. Tointon deftly transitions from snappy quips to a monologue accounting the unjust treatment of scorned women. John Middleton and the ditsy mistress, Marie-Louise, are aptly portrayed through inconsistent lies, missing clothing items and all the cliches of a careless affair. One standout performance for me is the quarrelsome dynamic between Constance’s mother, Mrs Culver, and Martha, which encompasses the generational tension surrounding fidelity. Mrs Culver was hilariously out of touch, discussing men’s innate polyamory and female endurance, which is countered by Martha’s frustrated yet astute stance on financial independence and divorce. The oppositional perspectives are humourously combative, and the show is smooth, quick and rarely misses a beat.
I found the performance really topical as it alerted me to how our misogynistic culture critiques women’s reaction to adultery, over the male perpetrator. I truly enjoyed The Constant Wife’s subtle commentary woven through a light-hearted repartee.
Production Image by Mihaela Bodlovic