The Sacred Flame (1928) is William Somerset Maugham's 21st play, written at the age of 54. Maugham dedicated the publication to his friend Messmore Kendall. The play, written as three acts, is unique within the total of Maugham's list of 24 plays, in that he changed from his previous methodology of using the naturalistic speech pattern he had been so well known for, to experiment with a more literary dialogue. Despite being a commercial success, Maugham did not repeat the experiment of literary dialogue again in any of his future plays. Source: Wikipedia (en)