Cast

Synopsis

…..needs little introduction. Suffice it to say that Coward, called by some a twentieth century Wilde, was at his most masterly when he wrote his intimate comedy about two couples meeting on the shared terrace of their adjoining honeymoon suites. No blasphemy, no
baring of flesh, no kitchen-sink; instead the wit, elegance and sparkle that make this the play always a pleasure to look at and listen to.

Directors Notes

We may think of “Private Lives solely as a balcony, the Duke of Westminster’s yacht and an orchestra with a remarkably small repertoire, but what we are really seeing is adultery on a large scale, and a couple who, like many before them and many after them, cannot live together and are unable to live apart.

Amanda and Elyot are as complete as Noel Coward could make them and neither of them could have been created by anyone else. They are, perhaps, his archetypal characters: witty, hedonistic, thoroughly irresponsible; attractive egoists with strong sexual drives and very little respect for conventional morality; people whom the world, with some justification, would regard as ‘impossible”

In all Noel Coward comedies of bad manners the characters are grown-up adolescents. There is no family life to speak of, no children, no commitment except to pleasure. Written fast and in full confident flow (Private Lives – four days; Hay Fever -five days; Blithe Spirit – six days), Coward’s best work has the aggressive edge of his high spirits. It would be accurate to say that shallowness, as defined by his comedies, is a conscious and perhaps even serious response to a dull, convention-ridden world. As such, shallowness is not altogether shallow.

“Let’s blow trumpets and squeakers, and enjoy the party as much as, we can, like very small, quite idiotic school-children. Let’s savour the delight of the moment” – Elyot