Private Lives theatre review

Theatre: Lincoln Performance Arts Centre

Running Time: 2 hours 2 mins (inc. interval)

Fights pursue, arguments happen, slaps occur – What more does one want?

PRIVATE LIVES follows Elyot and Amanda who have both remarried and are honeymooning with their new partners, only to discover that they happen to be in the same hotel. This in turn allows their ‘love’ for each other to resurface and they disappear leaving their new partners alone and as events follow, we discover reasons why their previous relationship ended in the first place.

The play opens in the France resort of Deville with the set containing a balcony and two benches that insinuated a shared balcony between two hotel rooms, which inevitably was true.

PRIVATE LIVES then cleverly takes you into the Parisian apartment of Amanda through a musical interlude where the set changes instantly which is where the rest of the play takes place.

The apartment which starts as a well-kept home and slowly changes into a place of ruin through the argument that takes us into the second half.

The amateur performance, by permission of Samuel French Ltd, is not to be a criticism.

All four actors, plus the short cameo appearance of a French maid, brought to life their respective characters.

Each actor and character kept the audience engaged from the start to finish through both dialogue and acting.

PRIVATE LIVES is a play for everyone. The snobbery of Elyot right through to the humble gentlemen of Victor complement each other.

The female characters of Amanda and Cybil bring out the best in each others performance – Cybil was the annoyingly, teary character, whereas Amanda was portrayed as a more dominant figure.

Amanda’s character really stole the show. The performance was truly brilliant and is definitely not one to miss.

As said, the play was an amateur performance from the Lincoln Company, but it worked really well and it was clear that all the cast enjoyed putting on the performance and it showed.

Noel Coward’s brilliant play was executed perfectly by the Lincoln Company which produces work for a range of festivals and runs shows in rep at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre throughout the year.

PRIVATE LIVES was written by Coward and premiered in 1930 and received mixed reviews when first performed.

It has to be said that there are similarities between Private Lives and the French play God of Carnage which follows two couples discussing a fight between their sons which leads to utter carnage (it was also adapted into a hilarious film by Polanski in 2011).

It is clear that God of Carnage took some inspiration from Private Lives but they are both enjoyable in their own way.

Unsurprisingly, the auditorium was filled and the play had the audience captivated from the very opening scene right through to the final bows in this one-off performance at the theatre.

It was a fantastic production and the cast should be proud of their performances.

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