Noel Coward

Private Lives: an Intimate Comedy in Three Acts Noel Coward

Full Length, Comedy

Characters: 2 males, 3 females

Set Requirements: 2 interiors

Revived in 2002 by the Royal National Theatre in a production that sparkled on Broadway, Private Lives is one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, meet by chance, reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear and a roundelay of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then apart, and new partnerships are formed. A uniquely humorous play boasting numerous successful Broadway runs boasting such as stars Coward himself, Laurence Olivier, Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Tammy Grimes, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

"Gorgeous, dazzling, fantastically funny."-The New York Times

"A gleaming and gleeful comedy."-New York Post