“Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.”
–W. Somerset Maugham
TACT’s Salon Series kicks off the New Year with Sommerset Maugham’s, The Sacred Flame. Written in 1928, The Sacred Flame is Maugham’s 21st play, and a study in the “who done it” style. The play centers on the mysterious death of a paralytic patient and his loyal nurse who suspects that his death falls under the catagory of suspicious circumstances. First produced in New York City in November 1928, The Sacred Flame was not warmly received until three months later when it moved to London, where it enjoyed a wildly successful run. Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon later that year and adapted it for film, starring Pauline Fredrick and Conrad Nagel. Given Maugham’s reputation and prowess, it’s no surprise that the play rebounded to became a hit in London and with Hollywood. By the mid 1920’s, Maugham, playwright, novelist and short story writer – a literary triple threat – was a house hold name and at the top of his game. With the complex and compelling relationships of his characters and the depth of his narratives, which arose from his own personal struggles, his work resonated deeply with audiences in England and in the U.S.
Born in 1874 in Paris, France – Maugham’s destiny would be forged with the early death of his parents. At the age of ten he was shipped to England to be raised by his uncle, Henry Maugham. His childhood from there became a journey through a dark almost Dickensian landscape. Raised in a boarding school far away from his homeland, unable to speak English, motherless, and with only his emotionally remote uncle to depend upon, the diminutive Maugham was marginalized and ridiculed by his classmates. He developed a stammer, was sickly, and spent much of his time alone yearning for an emotional connection. Yet during this time something remarkable would happen; Maugham discovered the restorative power of words. At age fifteen, he began to write short stories and at sixteen went to study literature and philosophy in Heidelberg, Germany. Upon returning to England, his Uncle sent him to London to study medicine, and it was during this time that he discovered his love of writing. He spent his days studying the human body, and his nights filling notebooks full of ideas for future works. It was during this time, he first fell in love with a man, though his identification with homosexuality would become a life long struggle. Thought clearly preferring the company of men, tragically, Maugham would try to love women. His torrid affair with Syrie Wellcome, a married woman, resulted in the birth of Mary Elizabeth Wellcome, and Syrie’s divorce from her husband, Henry. Syrie and Maugham would end up marrying, but divorcing later on, due to Maugham’s long-time affair with his secretary and lover, Frederick Gerald Haxton
Maugham would spend his life always searching for the love and affection he felt was ripped from him as a boy. Ironically, he was considered cold and remote, a man untouchable, unknowable, who poured his deepest feelings in his work. By forty he was famous, and had ten produced plays and ten published novels. In 1915, Of Human Bondage, his somewhat autobiographical novel would catapult him into the realms of greatness. By the time he wrote The Sacred Flame, Maugham was an established literary giant.
The Sacred Flame opened on Broadway in November, 1928, and was critically dismissed by New York Times critic, Justin Brooks Atkinson. The play, Mr. Atkinson wrote “is a well bred bore.” The production, which starred the British actress Mary Jerrold (as the mother, Mrs. Tabret) and was staged by Gilbert Miller, closed after only24 performances. Three months later Jerrold would reprise the role in London, where notices for the play were quite different. J.T. Grien of the London News called it Maugham’s “finest play since The Circle,” and audiences there clearly agreed. The play ran for 209 performances. The Sacred Flame may have played better in London, because of its noir-esque intrigue. The “who-done-it” mode of story telling was very popular then in England due to the rise in popularity of the work of Agatha Christie. And The Sacred Flame is written with all of twists and turns employed in that distinct style.
Clearly there was something in it to keep producers intrigued, because the play was mounted again on Broadway in 1952 and Hollywood remade of the film in 1935 (changing the title to The Right to Live, and giving the lead role of Hollywood heartthrob – and Betty Davis’s favorite leading man – George Brent).
And clearly, we agree. We have chosen it for our Salon Series, for several reasons: first, we felt it was high time to present a work by Mr. Maugham (we had only skirted his work once when we did Rain, a play adapted by Colton & Randolph from a short story he wrote); second, we absolutely love the skill and technique and surprise which propels this delicious parlor mystery, and finally, it’s a delightful find, and a terrific play. We hope you agree too.
