The first thing I said to my friend during the interval of Private Lives at the Donmar Warehouse was, ‘I don’t remember this being a play about domestic violence’. We’d just witnessed Elyot (Stephen Mangan) and Amanda (Rachael Stirling) having a physical fight which included Elyot grabbing Amanda by the throat and throwing her onto a sofa.
‘The approach unbalances the play entirely’: PRIVATE LIVES – Donmar Warehouse
The sun is setting on Michael Longhurst’s time at the Donmar Warehouse and his penultimate production is a timeless classic, Noel Coward’s sparky and charismatic relationship comedy about middle aged love, Private Lives, a fairly safe bet which this century alone has resulted in some great comic pairings from Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan to Toby Stephens and Anna Chancellor. But Coward’s work is tricky to get right and it always looks far easier than it really is.
‘Coward’s classic fits the quarrelsome exasperated affections of middle age perfectly’: PRIVATE LIVES – Touring ★★★★
May as well tell you, I had the ultimate pensioner experience, and it was a blast. A midweek, senior-price matinee for the new touring production of Private Lives.
‘Nigel Havers & Patricia Hodge have a fantastic connection onstage’: PRIVATE LIVES – Touring ★★★★
Christopher Luscombe directs this stellar new touring production of Noel Coward’s classic comedy, with Nigel Havers and Patricia Hodges as ex-spouses Elyot and Amanda.
NEWS: Nigel Havers launches touring company with Private Lives, co-starring Patricia Hodge
Actor Nigel Havers is launching his own touring company with a new production of Noel Coward’s classic comedy Private Lives, in which he’ll star with Patricia Hodge.
‘Clean & crisp’: PRIVATE LIVES – Sonning
Tam Williams’ production of Private Lives at the Mill at Sonning is clean and crisp, nicely framed with a lady accordoniste setting the location, and after a slowish start the piece moves up a gear in the scenes involving all four characters, and especially in two well-choreographed fights.
‘Exuberantly funny, elegant & sharp’: PRIVATE LIVES – Ipswich ★★★★
Exuberantly funny, elegant as a Deauville hotel balcony and sharp as the crack of a 78rpm record over a lover’s head, Joanna Carrick’s witty miniaturised production does Noel Coward’s sparkiest comedy full justice. I say miniature – it’s full length – only because of the venue: the tiny but vigorous home of Red Rose Chain.
PRIVATE LIVES – Touring
Pleasing on the eye and ear, this 1930s Noël Coward script is brought to life for 2016 by director Tom Attenborough and a cast of five. Telling the story of two newly married divorcees who find themselves honeymooning in conjoining suites, the play follows Elyot and Amanda as they differentiate between love and marriage and perception and reality – both with each other and their new partners.
NEWS: Tom Chambers tours in Coward’s Private Lives before West End
A major revival of Noël Coward’s hilarious masterpiece, Private Lives will embark on a prior to the West End UK tour starring stage and screen stars Tom Chambers (Top Hat, Strictly Come Dancing) as the loveable and charming Elyot and Laura Rogers (Tipping The Velvet, An Ideal Husband) as the unconventional and vivacious Amanda, alongside Charlotte Ritchie (Call The Midwife, One Night in November) as Sybil and Richard Teverson (Downton Abbey) as Victor.
Review: The Liz and Dick Show (Old Red Lion)
Something doesn’t feel right about The Liz and Dick Show. Although you welcome any snapshot of the backstage bickering, drunken brawling and love-hate relationship of Hollywood’s most famous pairing, this one’s set during rehearsals for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1966, when Burton (42) and Taylor (31) had only met three years earlier on the […]
The post Review: The Liz and Dick Show (Old Red Lion) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: The Liz and Dick Show (Old Red Lion)
Something doesn’t feel right about The Liz and Dick Show. Although you welcome any snapshot of the backstage bickering, drunken brawling and love-hate relationship of Hollywood’s most famous pairing, this one’s set during rehearsals for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1966, when Burton (42) and Taylor (31) had only met three years earlier on the […]
The post Review: The Liz and Dick Show (Old Red Lion) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: Private Lives (The Gielgud Theatre)
What’s left to be done with or said about Private Lives? After The Importance of Being Earnest it must be the most famous comedy in the English language, it drips a heady combination of epigrams, theatrical folklore, and night sweats having been written in three days during a bout of ‘flu in a grand hotel […]
The post Review: Private Lives (The Gielgud Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: Private Lives (The Gielgud Theatre)
What’s left to be done with or said about Private Lives? After The Importance of Being Earnest it must be the most famous comedy in the English language, it drips a heady combination of epigrams, theatrical folklore, and night sweats having been written in three days during a bout of ‘flu in a grand hotel […]
The post Review: Private Lives (The Gielgud Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: Private Lives (Vaudeville Theatre)
Can she or can’t she? Most of the first-night audience were secretly betting Kim Cattrall wouldn’t be able to shake off the shadow of ‘Samantha Jones’ from ‘Sex and the City’ and turn herself into Noel Coward’s wittiest and most romantic heroine. In assailing the best-constructed comedy in the English Language as well as the […]
The post Review: Private Lives (Vaudeville Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.