Plays Volume One

Maugham has given infinite pleasure and left us a splendour of writing which will remain for as long as the written English word is permitted to exist * Daily Telegraph *
A formidable talent, a formidable sum of talents…precision, tact, irony and total absence of pomposity * Spectator *
Gripping and entertaining * The Daily Telegraph on ‘The Letter’ *
A shrewd, still-relevant examination of women’s roles, the nature of love and the manners and mores of marriage * Variety on ‘The Constant Wife’ *

William Somerset Maugham, renowned novelist, playwright, and short-story writer, was born in 1874. He resided in Paris until the age of ten and received his education at King’s School, Canterbury, and Heidelberg University.

Maugham initially pursued a medical career, spending time at St. Thomas’ Hospital. However, the success of his debut novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), led him to dedicate himself to writing. His first masterpiece, Of Human Bondage, was published in 1915. With the release of The Moon and Sixpence in 1919, his standing as a novelist was firmly established.

Concurrently, Maugham solidified his reputation as a successful playwright. Following his first play, A Man of Honour, a series of successful productions emerged just before and after World War I. His theatrical career concluded in 1933 with the play Sheppey.

His acclaim as a short-story writer began in 1921 with The Trembling of a Leaf, subtitled Little Stories of the South Sea Islands. This was followed by over ten more collections. Maugham’s broader literary output includes travelogues like On a Chinese Screen and Don Fernando, essays, criticism, and autobiographical works such as The Summing Up and A Writer’s Notebook.

In 1927, Maugham settled in the south of France, where he lived until his death in 1965.

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