HPU’s production of W. Somerset Maugham’s comedy of marital manners, The Constant Wife, opened April 4 in the Paul and Vi Loo Theatre at the Hawai‘i Loa campus in Kane‘ohe. The play premiered on Broadway in 1926 and has been revived every generation.

A fairly standard drawing room comedy set in England in the mid-1920s, it follows the story of Constance Middleton, played by Bree Bumatai, as she learns that her husband, John (Rob Duval), is cheating on her with her “truest friend,” Marie-Louise (Becky Maltby), who is married to Mortimer Durham (Gerald Altwies).

The play looks at social issues that are still with us: the reality of loveless marriages, the attractions of middle age romance, the constant (pun intended: it’s Maugham’s primary comic device throughout the play) struggle of women for independence. In an era when women were expected to take care of the home, Constance decides to accept a job offer from family friend, career women Barbara Fawcett (Virginia Jones), to join her company, make her own money, and have the financial independence to make a decision on her marriage regardless of John’s ability to take care of her.

John does not approve, and during the course of their argument Constance says, “There is one freedom that is really important: economic freedom.”

The play reminds us that double standards for men and women still exists. Constance turns the tables on John and has an affair of her own with a former suitor, Bernard Kersal (Patrick Torres), who proposed to Constance 20 years before. Despite his own infidelities, John becomes angry when he discovers the relationship, and even Constance’s mother, Mrs. Culver (Sylvia Hormann-Alper), tells her, “Men can be promiscuous and still be upstanding. It is different for women.”

Bernard proposes again, suggesting Con-stance leave John, and asking the age old question, “Don’t you want to be loved?” In the end, she decides to continue her relationship with Bernard but to stay married to John for convenience and to maintain her social standing.

Joyce Maltby, who directed the play, has directed HPU’s theater program for the past 16 years. She produces two plays a year, the last one The Imaginary Invalid.

The Constant Wife runs through May 4. Reservations can be made by calling 375-1282.