Maugham Plays: v. 1: Sheppey, The Sacred Flame, The Circle, The Constant Wife, Our Betters by W. Somerset Maugham
One of the most admired and widely read authors of this century This first volume of Somerset Maugham's collected plays includes Sheppey, his last and best comedy of a Cockney barber who determines to give his sweepstake winnings to the poor; The Sacred Flame gives an unusual note of noir-ish suspense to a moving drama of protective maternal love; The Circle, widely regarded as Maugham's masterpiece, deals wittily with the dilemma of a young woman intent on leaving her pompous husband; in The Constant Wife, an abrasive war-between-the-sexes comedy, his heroine is an early feminist who gains financial and emotional independence from her husband; Our Betters - whose London opening was delayed through fear of lawsuits - exposes the amoral society of an English aristocracy funded by the American heiresses who have bought their way into it.