Maugham waxes witty on a marriage growing stale

Witticisms sparkle and fizz in W. Somerset Maugham’s 1926 champagne comedy “The Constant Wife.” Laughter ensues, of course, but something more is afoot, as a revival at the Pasadena Playhouse dexterously illustrates.

Set amid the upper crust of London as old Victorian inhibitions were being set aside, the play presents a strikingly modern portrait of spouses who have fallen out of sync.

Maugham’s initial audiences didn’t appreciate what he was showing them; the play was a failure in London and was regarded as little more than an amusing trifle in New York. Today, however, the play seems extraordinarily pertinent. Marriage and morality are hot-button topics; Maugham’s hard-learned knowledge is ready-made to contribute to the conversation.

As the lights dim to signal the start of the Pasadena presentation, one item in a beautifully appointed drawing room is, for a brief additional moment, left illuminated: a bird in a gilded cage. The symbolism is quickly explained as the room fills with family members and friends of Constance, who lives here, seemingly well-cared-for, with her doctor husband.

Constance is away for the moment, giving her outspoken sister (portrayed by Monette Magrath), seen-it-all mother (Carolyn Seymour) and glittering businesswoman friend (Ann Marie Lee) an opportunity to debate whether she should be informed about her husband’s infidelity.

They needn’t fret. The moment Constance (Megan Gallagher) arrives, she demonstrates -- via a knowing, amused smile and imperturbable demeanor -- that she can handle whatever life throws her way. She calmly ignores the coded messages that pass between her giggly, bow-lipped married friend (Libby West) and her endearingly stuffy, stalwart-seeming husband (Stephen Caffrey), but she does fluster momentarily as she anticipates a visit by a long-absent former beau (Kaleo Griffith, presented as the very picture of matinee-idol perfection).

The milieu inhabited by Maugham’s characters is sumptuously illustrated in a gauzy-draped, crystal-chandeliered set and with gorgeously textured, richly detailed costumes. Beyond the obvious eye-pleasing qualities, these visuals -- designed by dual-tasking Angela Balogh Calin -- also reveal a lot about the characters. It’s amazing what a hemline can indicate about a person’s worldview.

As circumstances present Constance with ways to turn misfortune into opportunity, she more openly speaks her mind, exhibiting an almost shocking matter-of-factness about the waning of marital passion, the onset of middle age and the chances swiftly slipping away. A twinge of melancholy accompanies this awareness, yet the play never loses its sprightliness. The pace zips and the dialogue, delivered just archly enough to reveal its double meanings, crackles.

Such deftness is a hallmark of Art Manke’s direction. He’s an expert at reanimating these vintage comedies, as he proved with the Playhouse productions of “Private Lives” and “Star Quality,” both by Noel Coward, whose sensibilities Maugham happens to share. One also senses a bit of Oscar Wilde in the writing, as well as a touch of Ibsen, once Constance, like Nora in “A Doll’s House,” begins to assert her independence.

Constance wants freedom, yet she also wants constancy -- in the love shown toward her and in the self-love of self-respect. Maugham, a lover of men who was caged in a sham marriage, understood -- with painful clarity -- how deeply this desire was rooted in human nature.

In “The Constant Wife,” he tapped something universal, something timeless and something poignantly, pricelessly good for a few laughs.

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‘The Constant Wife’

Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Also 2 p.m. May 30. Dark this Tuesday, May 23 and 8 p.m. May 30.

Ends: June 10

Price: $40 to $60

Contact: (626) 356-PLAY or www.pasadenaplayhouse.org

Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes