This superbly crafted production shows no sign of the play having been written over a hundred years ago.  The wit and the laughter at the ridiculous are as fresh as if they were written yesterday.  And of course the experienced actors have impeccable timing and delivery.  We may be about to see history repeat itself as Elizabeth who has been married for three years is enamoured with her tennis partner Edward “Teddie” Luton (Chirag Benedict Logo).  Of course a dalliance seems more exciting than being married to MP Arnold Champion-Cheney despite the indications from Kitty and Hugh’s perpetual squabbling as to the longer term outcome.  

Kitty’s “Ex” has grown in attraction in the years they were apart and we wonder whether it is the freshness of renewing an acquaintance that appeals to Kitty.  Certainly Hugh seems relatively curmudgeonly compared to the charming Clive.  Hugh is caught not following suit at Bridge and then everyone else sees how to play his game of Patience with annoying suggestions. The audience is kept guessing when we hear that Clive prefers younger women and that his mistresses are “retired” at 40 years old with a diamond ring.  

Somerset Maugham doesn’t shy away from the painful side of abandonment as Arnold looks back on his motherless childhood and Clive on his career prospects which were curtailed by the scandal.  Hugh and Kitty too have been sentenced to a life abroad in Italyafter being shunned by polite society and Hugh’s parliamentary ambitions scuppered.