Theatre is a novel by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, first published in 1937 by William Heinemann (UK) and Doubleday Doran (US).

[1][2] The novel describes a successful actress and her husband, a theatre manager; her life and career is disturbed by a stormy affair with a young accountant.

I feel a great affection for her; I am not shocked by her naughtiness, nor scandalized by her absurdities...."[3] Julia Lambert and Michael Gosselyn first meet when they are both in a theatre company in Liverpool; their relationship grows, and Julia suggests that he try theatre management, with her as leading lady.

Dolly de Vries, a rich widow who has a passion for the stage, and for Julia, finances Michael in theatre management.

Joan Denver, Roger's seducer, wants to be an understudy in a play, and Julia appraises her, disguising her contempt.

She realises how much she still loves Tom, and, performing in her current play, she "put into it now all the agony of her spirit".

Michael afterwards says she acted badly, and they decide she should rest for a while; she spends the summer with her mother and aunt in Saint-Malo, France.

On the afternoon of the first night of Nowadays Julia goes to Tom's flat, but realises she no longer cares for him.

It featured Cornelia Otis Skinner as Julia Lambert and Arthur Margetson as Michael Gosselyn.

It was directed by Alfred Weidenmann, and featured Lilli Palmer as Julia and Charles Boyer as Michael.