I think this is my third time seeing this brilliantly delicious Noel Coward play. First in this very theatre, the Royal Exchange, in 2011 BHM (before honorary manc) with Simon Robson and Imogen Stubbs).

The second was in 2022 with Nigel Havers and Patricia Hodge (blog here).

And my hat-trick was realised back at the Exchange, last night…

I’m always going to soak up the story and the script like a rabid sponge (I was trying to think of an adjective to describe the sponge that I am, rabid popped in there, was instantly dismissed as being ridiculous, then almost immediately reinstated – because it’s ridiculous).

I’m sure ‘the play’ is largely unbothered by all this, but like any ‘classic’ text, it can bring positives and negatives to the table. You have your baseline down, but how’s this variable of new presentation, direction and actors going to land?

Well in this case, incredibly well.

‘I think very few people are completely normal really, deep down in their private lives.’

(Amanda Pryne in Private Lives)

So let’s get this synopsis down and we’ll get to the execution.

Private Lives tells the story of Elyot and Amanda, who were once married, find themselves on honeymoon with their new partners, in the same hotel on the French Riviera, admiring the view from adjoining balconies.
Their initial horror quickly evaporates and soon they are sharing cocktails. Who knows what the future holds for them now…

Now whilst the provided dialogue sets the tone and does some of the heavy lifting, this is a shared and equal effort between writer and cast if it’s ever to be realised to its true intention and deliver its potentially glorious impact.

The main sparring couples of the piece, the exes, the two on their respective honeymoons with their new spouses, the deliciously devilish duo of the piece, Amanda and Elyot, were once infamously brought to life in a 1983 production on Broadway. Audiences at the time lapped it up, not just because of their star power but the history they brought to playing a problematic couple whose sparring could indeed rival their own.

Jill Halfpenny (Amanda) and Steve John Shepherd (Elyot) not only delivered those lines as though each insult, witty aside, playful putdowns and passionate proclamations were plucked straight from their own consciousness, but brought their own individual deliveries and styles as they embodied the terrible twosome. A delectable Amanda and Elyot.

But what is an Amanda and Elyot without their jilted spouses, Victor and Sibyl. Not a lot, especially when played respectively by Daniel Millar and Shazia Nicholls, whose own descent (or perhaps crescendo may be more appropriate) into chaos, cat-calling and hysteria more than gave the headliners a run for their money. The charisma coming from that ‘in-the-round stage’ would have been sure to delight Mr Coward himself.

From pretty much start to finish, save a few gasps of open-mouthed horror at the most dastardly and darkest of the main players’ deeds, there was laughter and appreciation from the audience all around. And me.

And let us not forget the slapstick, physical performance that a farce demands, provided by French maid, Louise (Sara Lessore). Entertaining us so much that it prompted an unprecedented, within the play, spontaneous round of applause as she left the stage.

The infamous central stage did its bit, playing slowly revolving host to adjacent hotel balconies on the French Riviera, and a delightfully art deco Parisian flat near the Champs Elysees, complete with chaise longue, and piano (that poor, poor piano).

As the play reaches heady heights during one furious spar, the senses take a battering as the low rumbles ( I initially thought were a tram going down Cross Street) gradually turned to thunderclaps and lightening, the stage picks up speed and we all see for ourselves its not just witty one-liners, jaunty jostling and declarations of desire. This is a duo who definitely don’t belong together.

Directed by the brilliant Blanche McIntyre, the cast and crew deserves a heady place in the hall of fame of fabulous performances and presentations of the relationship-tug of war that is, Noel Coward’s darkly charming Private Lives.

Oh and the costumes…

Private Lives at runs at the Royal Exchange until 2 May. For future details and tickets, visit https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/event/private-lives/

Production images: Johan Persson