The Circle at Chichester Festival Theatre: REVIEW - There's nothing square about this circular tale of love and life

At first glance this is one of those three act frothy comedies of manners set in a sumptuous country house one weekend in the 1920s.

Like the antique chair which takes centre stage at the start of The Circle, these period scripts have not always worn well.

But unlike the chair, this Maugham masterpiece is of impeccable provenance and it sits far less uncomfortably with today’s audience than the more easily shocked theatre-goers of one hundred years ago.

Then, the notion that a wife should abandon her husband for a young lover – a mirror image of her husband’s parents’ behaviour hence the title ‘The Circle’ - did not find favour with everyone. It is even reported that some people booed the original production.

There was no booing in Chichester.

This is a chic, classy revival with a bravura performance by the wonderful Jane Asher as the mother who abandoned her son 30 years before and returns at a timely moment to give some heart-felt advice to her daughter-in-law.

Maugham’s own life was complex and he was never afraid of autobiography in his plays. So shadows of his own personal challenges can also be discerned.

But if there is bleakness, there is no shortage of humour. It is extracted with meticulous care by director Tom Littler. One of the best moments is all but unspoken – the positioning and repositioning of a statue in the drawing room before the main action has even begun.

There is much to commend this revival.