ORANGE COUNTY STAGE REVIEWS : THIS ‘CONSTANT WIFE’ HAS NAGGING PROBLEMS

Stanton Community Theatre has reached back to 1926 for W. Somerset Maugham’s comedy “The Constant Wife,” dusted it off and dragged it--unsuccessfully--into the 1980s. Alas, it doesn’t work for a minute.

Maugham devised a plot that must have raised a few eyebrows back in 1926 with its wry comment on the double-standard between the sexes. A devoted wife catches her husband dallying with her best friend and decides to get a job, declare her financial independence and then give her husband a taste of his own philandering medicine. This mouse that roars spells out the terms of their “new” marriage to her astonished husband, with the ultimatum that he can take them or leave them. But what might have seemed startling in 1926 hardly generates a ripple in 1986, and this story told in stilted dialogue never seems at home in the contemporary setting that director John Craig has fashioned for it.

Compounding the problem is that Maugham’s storytelling relies on stereotypes--the rich, blue-blooded Boston matron; her rich, insufferably nosy daughter; the rich, dimwitted young vamp, and the rich, self-centered husband, among others. Craig’s cast plays to those stereotypes, and as a result, the relationships never go beyond the superficial. Pat Boyer fares best, contributing a note of coolly bemused intelligence as Constance, the “constant” (or loyal) wife. Marlene Frances and Tamara Stevens bring amusing life to the roles of the dreadful younger sister and the bubble-headed friend, respectively.

An elegant counterpoint to the aging plot line is Peg Richardson’s smashing set design--a formal drawing room decorated in shades of peach and highlighted by clever attention to detail.

“The Constant Wife” will play through Feb. 21 at the Stanton Cultural Arts Building, 7800 Katella Ave., Stanton. For information, call the Stanton Recreation Department at (714) 220-2220.