Private Lives ***
This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Friday 30 January 2009 10:23 GMT. It was last updated on Wednesday 04 February 2009 17:45 GMT.
Noel Coward reputedly dashed off this classic bittersweet comedy in a mere four days whilst recovering from a bout of flu, then starred in it himself when it premiered in 1930. After Romeo & Juliet, it boasts perhaps the most famous balcony scene to be caught on stage — though Coward’s takes place in a swanky French hotel and the very English protagonists are certainly older if not wiser.
Elyot Chase has just arrived with his new, considerably younger wife, Sybil only to discover that Amanda, who divorced him five years earlier, has booked into the adjoining suite with her brand new husband Victor. From this neatly symmetrical scenario, Coward wittily portrays a “can’t live with”/ “can’t live without” relationship in which Elyot and Amanda, cut from the same wealthily indulgent cloth, are obviously made for each other but — with their barbed tongues, short tempers and uncomfortably violent streaks – are equally destined to inflict a lot of pain.
Claire Price allows Amanda’s underlying vulnerability to shimmer through her quipping, elegant shell, whilst Jasper Britton leaves you in no doubt that there’s a brutal side to the suave sophisticate. Kicking off the Hampstead’s 50th anniversary season, Lucy Bailey’s production focuses as much on their pain as their laughter, whilst the rejected new spouses (Lucy Briggs-Owen’s apparently sweet-as-sugar Sybil and Rufus Wright’s stuffy, old-before-his-time Victor) are pushed aside by the maelstrom of an attraction with which they cannot possibly compete.
This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Friday 30 January 2009 10:23 GMT. It was last updated on Wednesday 04 February 2009 17:45 GMT.
Noel Coward reputedly dashed off this classic bittersweet comedy in a mere four days whilst recovering from a bout of flu, then starred in it himself when it premiered in 1930. After Romeo & Juliet, it boasts perhaps the most famous balcony scene to be caught on stage — though Coward’s takes place in a swanky French hotel and the very English protagonists are certainly older if not wiser.
Elyot Chase has just arrived with his new, considerably younger wife, Sybil only to discover that Amanda, who divorced him five years earlier, has booked into the adjoining suite with her brand new husband Victor. From this neatly symmetrical scenario, Coward wittily portrays a “can’t live with”/ “can’t live without” relationship in which Elyot and Amanda, cut from the same wealthily indulgent cloth, are obviously made for each other but — with their barbed tongues, short tempers and uncomfortably violent streaks – are equally destined to inflict a lot of pain.
Claire Price allows Amanda’s underlying vulnerability to shimmer through her quipping, elegant shell, whilst Jasper Britton leaves you in no doubt that there’s a brutal side to the suave sophisticate. Kicking off the Hampstead’s 50th anniversary season, Lucy Bailey’s production focuses as much on their pain as their laughter, whilst the rejected new spouses (Lucy Briggs-Owen’s apparently sweet-as-sugar Sybil and Rufus Wright’s stuffy, old-before-his-time Victor) are pushed aside by the maelstrom of an attraction with which they cannot possibly compete.
Hampstead, Eton Avenue, NW3 (020 7722 9301) until 28th February £25-£15 (under 26’s £10)
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