Theatre (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A West End Satire of Love, Vanity, Masks, and a Celebrated Actress's TriumphBy William Somerset Maugham
Length10h 48m
About this audiobook
Published in 1937, Theatre is a glittering comedy of manners and a penetrating study of performance, desire, and self-fashioning. Its heroine, Julia Lambert, a celebrated London actress, converts emotional crisis into artistic triumph after an affair with the younger Tom Fennell unsettles her marriage, vanity, and sense of command. Maugham's prose is lucid, urbane, and sharply ironic, placing the novel within the interwar tradition of social realism while exploiting the theatre as both setting and metaphor: life itself becomes a sequence of roles, masks, and exquisitely timed entrances. William Somerset Maugham was unusually well equipped to write such a book. Trained as a physician, seasoned by travel, and already famous as a dramatist and novelist, he possessed a clinical eye for motive and a playwright's instinct for dialogue and scene. His long involvement with the London stage gave him intimate knowledge of theatrical ambition, professional discipline, and backstage illusion, while his broader fiction repeatedly examines the gap between social appearance and private appetite. Theatre is highly recommended to readers who admire elegant satire, psychologically astute characterization, and fiction about art's strange power to redeem humiliation. It remains one of Maugham's most accomplished late works: witty, cruel, humane, and theatrically exact.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
GenreGeneral Fiction, Humor
Length10 hrs 48 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJun 7, 2022
LanguageEnglish
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