Private Lives – Reading Rep Theatre

Writer: Noël Coward
Director: Matthew Forbes

Noël Coward is perhaps one of the UK’s greatest playwrights, and Reading Rep Theatre’s production of Private Lives, directed by Matthew Forbes, brings new life to a show written in 1930.

The show is opened by Sybil, played by Orla O’Sullivan, walking onto the balcony of her honeymoon hotel. O’Sullivan, like the rest of the cast, exhibits an intimate knowledge of the show and her character. The unfolding show could almost be followed solely by the cast’s reactions to each other. For her part, O’Sullivan plays a part that is young and largely innocent with a cheeky, perhaps wicked, streak and weaves her moments of wickedness into the show with ease.

O’Sullivan’s Sybil is newly married to Christopher Bonwell’s Elyot. Bonwell is infinitely watchable from his first entrance, with an awkward energy suggesting that his new marriage to Sybil is not the happy marriage that his young wife is hoping for. Bonwell is precise, almost calculated, as Elyot jumps between infatuation, control, and child-like outbursts. He expertly manages his relationship with O’Sullivan’s Sybil, Amy Di Bartolomeo’s Amanda, and Emile John’s Victor. In a show built on the overlapping relationships of four people, this masterful control of how he experiences each of those relationships creates a believability throughout the show.

Perhaps the strongest of the relationships is that between Bonwell and Di Bartolomeo in their roles as divorced couple Elyot and Amanda. Di Bartolomeo is a self-confessed fan of Coward’s and her admiration for the writer is clear as each line is delivered with a level of thought and clarity that many modern productions of this title miss, but her appreciation for the play is never clearer than when she allows her facial expressions and reactions to her fellow actors to carry the story. Di Bartolomeo has crafted a well-developed character, easily recognisable as one which could exist as easily today as in the 1930s when the show is set.

Finalising the group of four is Victor, played by Emile John. He is sometimes kind and sometimes sleezy in how he comes across, both with Amanda and Sybil. In a cast as well chosen as this John is the least memorable, but that is not a reflection on him as his character is clearly defined and a joy to watch. It is in the second act, once Elyot and Amanda have fled their honeymoons to rekindle their own former marriage, that John comes into his own as he squares up to Elyot though both characters are too afraid of conflict to fight each other.

The fifth member of the cast is Rose-Anna Nicholson, playing Parisian made Louise. It is a small part, appearing for just a short time in the second act, but she makes a lasting impression in her professional debut. Private Lives is a humorous play in its own right, but Nicholson’s understanding of comic timing – which matches that of the more experienced actors she appears alongside – elevates the comedy to a new level as her four co-stars struggle to engage with a maid who doesn’t speak English.

Forbes’ directorial vision for this show is clean, precise, and one which plays into the comic world created by Noël Coward. Each movement on the stage is well considered, making great use of just two sets; a hotel balcony in Deauville and a stylish apartment in Paris, designed by Kevin Jenkins and featuring a piano played by Coward himself. It is through the cast’s interaction with that set and with Elliot Griggs and Raffaele Pancucci’s lighting and sound design that bring the show to life.

It’s almost a century since Private Lives premiered in Edinburgh and transferred to London’s Phoenix Theatre but as Forbes and his cast breathe new life into it, it is as timeless and enjoyable today as ever; the lines are just as funny, the characters just as watchable, and the commentary just as contemporary.

Runs until Saturday 9 May.