PRIVATE LIVES. To 3 April.
Derby
PRIVATE LIVES
by Noel Coward
Derby Playhouse To 3 April 2004
Mon-Sat 7.30pm
Audio-described 31 March
BSL Signed 1 April
Backchat 1 April
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
All's fair in this sparring-match that leads to chaos.Make Love, not War'? There seems little difference as David Freeman's Derby revival of Coward's most-produced play opens to the military tread of Holst's planetary Mars. And lest we forget, the music recurs towards the end, as the floor of Amanda's Paris flat tilts, leaving its visitors clinging vertiginously.
Directors and designers often restate the obvious, megaphoning the clearly suggested to bludgeon us. But here the device works within an overall concept unleashed love brings us together yet keeps us apart; establishing order yet bringing chaos and it makes for a coherent and exciting climax, certainly working better than some of Freeman's other staging decisions.
There's clearly some point in moving us back from the adjacent hotel balconies of the first act, placing emphasis on the beds in each room. If it weren't for sex, even Elyot and Amanda might be able to live peaceably together for a time.
But it strains credulity beyond snapping point that the amount of noise these two make with their new spouses as they arrive in the same place for their respective second honeymoons wouldn't lead them to recognise each other earlier, given the slender barriers between their spaces. And once the realism is snapped, the moment of realisation loses its impact (not helped by some feeble singing and the substitution for Coward's own lilting tune of an overly-obvious Falling in Love again').
Use of the auditorium aisles as extensions of the Paris flat is clumsy. Extraordinary how a gifted director can get such details wrong. Yet, well-played by the quartet (the small role of the French Maid disappears economy or a feeling it's a patronising distraction or both?), Freeman's account is generally vigorous. There are other cuts, including some of Coward's embarrassing attempts to have his central pair talk on matters teleological. They're not missed in a production that overall catches the play's mood-swings with intelligence and vigour.
Sibyl Chase: Philippa Peak
Elyot Chase: Peter Harding
Victor Prynne: Toby Sawyer
Amanda Prynne: Anna Keaveney
Director: David Freeman
Designer: Duncan Hayler
Lighting: Alistair Grant
Sound: Paul Delaney
Fight director: Alison de Burgh
2004-04-02 12:55:42