PRIVATE LIVES till 28 February

Exeter

PRIVATE LIVES: by Noël Coward

Northcott Theatre, Exeter
Box Office: 01392 493 493493
www.northcott-theatre.co.uk

Runs to Saturday 28 February
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes with two intervals
Eves Mon-Sat 7.30 p.m. Audio described 26 Feb
Mat Sat 28 2.30 p.m.

Review Hazel Brown: 10 February 2004

A champagne cocktail of delights served with style and aplombThe Northcott Theatre Company serves up a champagne cocktail of delights the performances, the costumes, sets and singing are simply marvellous, darling.

A divorced couple arrives to honeymoon in France with their new partners, but, unbeknown to one another, they have booked into the same hotel and are in adjacent suites. The first newly weds to arrive on the shared balcony of the hotel in Deauville are Elyot and Sibyl Chase - James Weber Brown is the personification of suave, lofty charm and Emma Fildes is the perfect, kittenish ingénue who wants reassurance that she matches or outshines his first wife, Amanda. Then we are treated to a fine, sexy appearance by Amanda, sashaying onto the balcony in a gorgeous silk dressing gown with her new husband, Victor, the solid Guy Lankester, who similarly wants reassurance that he can eclipse Elyot by offering security on which she can depend. Poor Sibyl and Victor don't have a hope in hell.

Written by Coward as a vehicle for himself and Gertrude Lawrence in the 1930s as the couple who couldn't live together, but, in the end, can't live apart, there is tremendous pressure on the main pair of actors. Fortunately, the comic abilities and the looks of both James Weber Brown and Clare Swinburne meet the challenge head on. They are a wonderful foil for one another in the loving, fighting and reconciliation scenes that follow. Similarly, the sets, costumes and music have to meet one's expectations of sophistication, which they certainly do. The jilted characters are also no mere ciphers as they move from bewilderment to fury, ending in an orgasmic, physical argument.

I have one small caveat to add to my overall appreciation of the play. Although the fights between the couples are carried out with hilarious, cartoon violence and I can see that they are metaphors for sexual tensions that it was not possible to explore in the mores of the time, I did find them troubling.

However, I could kill for the clothes and the stylish Parisian flat as designed by Matthew Wright.

CAST
Sibyl Chase: Emma Fildes
Elyot Chase: James Weber Brown
Victor Prynne: Guy Lankester
Amanda Prynne: Clare Swinburne
Louise: Eleanor Montgomery

Director: Richard Beecham
Set & Costume Designer: Matthew Wright
Lighting Designer: Robin Carter
Choreographer: Paula Crutchlow
Fight Director: Kate Waters
Musical Director: Paul McClure

2004-02-12 15:46:16