Latest news with #TheConstantWife
Telegraph
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Somerset Maugham's cheating husband comedy gets the Rivals treatment
The Constant Wife, Somerset Maugham 's neglected 1926 comedy about a marriage rendered wretched by infidelity might seem like an odd choice for the RSC. Yet, as revived by the company's co-artistic director Tamara Harvey – using a deft new script by Laura Wade, who wrote the recent steamy TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's, Rivals – it lightly asks big questions about relationships and empowerment. A luminous Rose Leslie leads the fine cast as Constance, a woman who is being cheated on by her husband John, a Harley Street doctor, but stands by him the better to forge a different life. Wade tucks in new lines in keeping with Maugham's droll, Wildean dialogue. Her most daring move, though, is to restructure his plot: she brings forward a showdown (from Act II) in which the stoutish Mortimer (Daniel Millar) – whose wife has been having an affair with John (Luke Norris) – arrives to confront the adulterous pair. In its day, it must have been a pretty incendiary scene. Maugham has Constance counter-intuitively take up the cudgels on behalf of the duplicitous couple, protesting their innocence while indicating to the duo that she knows all about their betrayal. Adding another layer, Wade drops in a flashback, which shows Constance, unseen, witnessing the infidelity. This approach cuts more quickly to the fact that Constance is keeping up appearances, and putting on an act. At once, the evening gains more humour from this knowingness (there are added allusions to the theatricality of the tangled affairs, too) and further stabs of pain, as many lines, from early on, carry a subtext of concerted deflection and repression. Leslie (who starred on TV in Game of Thrones and, off-screen, married its heart-throb, Kit Harington) is terrific as a woman who – rather like Nora in Ibsen 's A Doll's House – has a nominally pampered life, but in fact is suffocating from a lack of agency. Clipped and clear-eyed, Leslie brings a winning insouciance to the aphoristic dialogue, as though merely arranging silverware, but it's serrated stuff. There are notable parallels with Maugham's life, which was dogged by marital unhappiness, stoked by the author's homosexual affairs. Constance turns to interior design as a route to independence – just as Maugham's wife, Syrie Wellcome, did. But there's something more broadly generational and lastingly pertinent, too, about this wronged woman's cool-headed strategy for survival. She must overcome the sexist, conformist attitudes of the age, many of them brazenly articulated by her interfering, Lady Bracknell-ish mother (a superb Kate Burton). She also has to reconcile a demand for true happiness with a recognition that even a marriage that has dimmed can still be worth the candle. This nuanced dilemma feels at once both wholly of its period and utterly modern – and fully warrants the further life that Maugham's play is given here.
Leader Live
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Rose Leslie says she and husband Kit Harington ‘do not feel famous at all'
The 38-year-old Scottish actress played Ygritte in the fantasy HBO series, with Harington as her primary love interest, Jon Snow. 'I don't mean to be insincere at all, but I don't think we are in the spotlight,' she told Tatler magazine. 'It's not something that we independently or together chase. We are fortunate whereby if there are projects we do that galvanise attention then that's amazing – but I don't think we feel famous at all.' The actress has filmed scenes of a sexual nature during her career, including the famous Game Of Thrones cave scene with Harington, and said somebody recently approached her and remarked on a nude scene she had filmed. 'I had someone come up to me and be like 'I know you – I've seen your tits',' she said. 'And I was like 'You have?' And he was like 'Yeah, I've seen your tits.' 'But I suppose, if you put yourself out there, then what can you expect?' Leslie and Harrington, who live in Suffolk, married in 2018 and have two children. 'Suffolk is really our base now,' she said. 'I think the catalyst for us to really feel like this is home is nursery and our wish for our children to kind of see this as home.' A post shared by Tatler (@tatlermagazine) The couple married at Rayne Church in Kirkton of Rayne in Aberdeenshire and held their reception at Leslie's 12th century family castle. Guests at the wedding included Game Of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Emilia Clarke. 'God, I felt so elated that day,' Leslie said. 'It was the culmination of being married to the love of my life, in the home that I was incredibly happy in, bringing all my friends to Scotland – and the joy of that day was just fantastic.' Asked if they will permit their children to watch Game Of Thrones, she said: 'I don't think it's our decision. 'I think if they wish to see Mum and Dad do their thing – I mean, I'm not talking about the cave scene (a raunchy scene between their characters), I'd rather not – but the other scenes and whatnot…' Leslie, who is also known for her roles in Death On The Nile and Downton Abbey, will star in an adaptation of William Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from June. – Read the full feature in the July issue of Tatler, available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday June 5.
North Wales Chronicle
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
Rose Leslie says she and husband Kit Harington ‘do not feel famous at all'
The 38-year-old Scottish actress played Ygritte in the fantasy HBO series, with Harington as her primary love interest, Jon Snow. 'I don't mean to be insincere at all, but I don't think we are in the spotlight,' she told Tatler magazine. 'It's not something that we independently or together chase. We are fortunate whereby if there are projects we do that galvanise attention then that's amazing – but I don't think we feel famous at all.' The actress has filmed scenes of a sexual nature during her career, including the famous Game Of Thrones cave scene with Harington, and said somebody recently approached her and remarked on a nude scene she had filmed. 'I had someone come up to me and be like 'I know you – I've seen your tits',' she said. 'And I was like 'You have?' And he was like 'Yeah, I've seen your tits.' 'But I suppose, if you put yourself out there, then what can you expect?' Leslie and Harrington, who live in Suffolk, married in 2018 and have two children. 'Suffolk is really our base now,' she said. 'I think the catalyst for us to really feel like this is home is nursery and our wish for our children to kind of see this as home.' A post shared by Tatler (@tatlermagazine) The couple married at Rayne Church in Kirkton of Rayne in Aberdeenshire and held their reception at Leslie's 12th century family castle. Guests at the wedding included Game Of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Emilia Clarke. 'God, I felt so elated that day,' Leslie said. 'It was the culmination of being married to the love of my life, in the home that I was incredibly happy in, bringing all my friends to Scotland – and the joy of that day was just fantastic.' Asked if they will permit their children to watch Game Of Thrones, she said: 'I don't think it's our decision. 'I think if they wish to see Mum and Dad do their thing – I mean, I'm not talking about the cave scene (a raunchy scene between their characters), I'd rather not – but the other scenes and whatnot…' Leslie, who is also known for her roles in Death On The Nile and Downton Abbey, will star in an adaptation of William Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from June. – Read the full feature in the July issue of Tatler, available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday June 5.
Irish Independent
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Games of Thrones stars Kit Harington and wife Rose Leslie ‘do not feel famous at all'
The 38-year-old Scottish actress played Ygritte in the fantasy HBO series, with Harington as her primary love interest, Jon Snow. 'I don't mean to be insincere at all, but I don't think we are in the spotlight,' she told Tatler magazine. 'It's not something that we independently or together chase. We are fortunate whereby if there are projects we do that galvanise attention then that's amazing – but I don't think we feel famous at all.' The actress has filmed scenes of a sexual nature during her career, including the famous Game Of Thrones cave scene with Harington, and said somebody recently approached her and remarked on a nude scene she had filmed. 'I had someone come up to me and be like 'I know you – I've seen your tits',' she said. 'And I was like 'You have?' And he was like 'Yeah, I've seen your tits.' 'But I suppose, if you put yourself out there, then what can you expect?' Leslie and Harrington, who live in Suffolk, married in 2018 and have two children. 'Suffolk is really our base now,' she said. 'I think the catalyst for us to really feel like this is home is nursery and our wish for our children to kind of see this as home.' The couple married at Rayne Church in Kirkton of Rayne in Aberdeenshire and held their reception at Leslie's 12th century family castle. Guests at the wedding included Game Of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Emilia Clarke. 'God, I felt so elated that day,' Leslie said. 'It was the culmination of being married to the love of my life, in the home that I was incredibly happy in, bringing all my friends to Scotland – and the joy of that day was just fantastic.' Asked if they will permit their children to watch Game Of Thrones, she said: 'I don't think it's our decision. 'I think if they wish to see Mum and Dad do their thing – I mean, I'm not talking about the cave scene (a raunchy scene between their characters), I'd rather not – but the other scenes and whatnot…' Leslie, who is also known for her roles in Death On The Nile and Downton Abbey, will star in an adaptation of William Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from June. – Read the full feature in the July issue of Tatler, available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday June 5.
Western Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Rose Leslie says she and husband Kit Harington ‘do not feel famous at all'
The 38-year-old Scottish actress played Ygritte in the fantasy HBO series, with Harington as her primary love interest, Jon Snow. 'I don't mean to be insincere at all, but I don't think we are in the spotlight,' she told Tatler magazine. 'It's not something that we independently or together chase. We are fortunate whereby if there are projects we do that galvanise attention then that's amazing – but I don't think we feel famous at all.' Kit Harington and Rose Leslie after their wedding at Rayne Church in Kirkton of Rayne in Aberdeenshire in 2018 (Jane Barlow/PA) The actress has filmed scenes of a sexual nature during her career, including the famous Game Of Thrones cave scene with Harington, and said somebody recently approached her and remarked on a nude scene she had filmed. 'I had someone come up to me and be like 'I know you – I've seen your tits',' she said. 'And I was like 'You have?' And he was like 'Yeah, I've seen your tits.' 'But I suppose, if you put yourself out there, then what can you expect?' Leslie and Harrington, who live in Suffolk, married in 2018 and have two children. 'Suffolk is really our base now,' she said. 'I think the catalyst for us to really feel like this is home is nursery and our wish for our children to kind of see this as home.' The couple married at Rayne Church in Kirkton of Rayne in Aberdeenshire and held their reception at Leslie's 12th century family castle. Guests at the wedding included Game Of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Emilia Clarke. 'God, I felt so elated that day,' Leslie said. 'It was the culmination of being married to the love of my life, in the home that I was incredibly happy in, bringing all my friends to Scotland – and the joy of that day was just fantastic.' Asked if they will permit their children to watch Game Of Thrones, she said: 'I don't think it's our decision. 'I think if they wish to see Mum and Dad do their thing – I mean, I'm not talking about the cave scene (a raunchy scene between their characters), I'd rather not – but the other scenes and whatnot…' Leslie, who is also known for her roles in Death On The Nile and Downton Abbey, will star in an adaptation of William Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from June. – Read the full feature in the July issue of Tatler, available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday June 5.
