Private Lives

Noël Coward’s classic conflict of lovers demands the sharpest, slickest and sweetest delivery, to which this production adds charm and poignancy in full measure. It’s not often the audience needs to works quite so hard to keep up with the verbal parrying, and every blow landed. Then there were the wicked sulky silences, pouts and scowls that would suddenly flare up again, twice as fierce. For the sake of exciting comedy, this well-honed cast took fearful risks which paid off as their acidly clear diction and precision timing carried the drama and delight to the very back of the auditorium.

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, 10 October 2017
Rating:
Andrew Connal