Writer: Noël Coward
Director: Blanche McIntyre
The Royal Exchange faces an unusual challenge with their production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives. There have already been two versions of the play recently staged in the region, at Hope Mill Theatre and Octagon Theatre, Bolton, so local audiences may feel the story is over-familiar.
Amanda Prynne (Jill Halfpenny) believes that, in their private lives, all people are, depending on the circumstances, capable of extreme behaviour. As if to prove the point when she encounters her divorced husband Elyot (Steve John Shepherd) she impulsively elopes with him despite the fact he physically abused her during their marriage and the pair of them have now re-married, to Sybil (Shazia Nicholls) and Victor (Daniel Millar), and are actually on their honeymoons. The pair dash off to Paris with their new spouses in hot pursuit.
Private Lives is a play that comes with a lot of baggage. It is an acknowledged classic yet has features with do not accord with modern sensibilities – a dismissive attitude towards marital violence and the observation some women should be struck regularly like gongs. Director Blanche McIntyre takes the refreshing approach of ignoring the baggage and treating the play as a simple comedy. The technique allows the story to develop at a relaxed pace so, in act one, the conversation between Amanda and Elyot is unforced and the revelation of their lingering mutual passion emerges in a natural manner. In act two the sense of their passion going off the boil is communicated wordlessly through angry gestures and sullen glances.
Considering the play is famous for witty dialogue McIntyre does not shy away from physical comedy. Jill Halfpenny sprawls across a seat in a desperate effort to conceal herself from Elyot and a dramatic confrontation between the principals in act two is interrupted by the maid Louise (Sara Lessore) grudgingly, and noisily, re-arranging the furniture and generating a round of applause for her efforts. McIntyre is aware of the value of silence with Amanda and Elyot comically twitching awaiting a self-imposed period of quiet to expire or the former fondly watching the latter tenderly pick out a tune on the piano.
Dick Bird comes close to stealing the show with a sophisticated set design. White bench seats with polished black backing and silver rails suggest events could be taking place on a ship as much as on a hotel balcony, an impression re-enforced by the sound of breaking waves. The set gradually revolves ensuring the audience gets the full benefit of the intimate conversations between the characters. In act two the scene shifts to a faded apartment and the stage revolves at a faster pace with thunder rumbling in the background to reflect the growing intensity of the arguments between Amanda and Elyot.
Shazia Nicholls and Daniel Millar have the misfortune to be playing characters intended to reflect the distain felt by author Noël Coward for conventional behaviour. Still, they play their parts very well with Nicholls hitting the right balance between cloyingly needy and downright irritating and Millar using outward protests about decent standards of behaviour to hide how he is intimidated by Amanda’s free-spirited hedonistic lifestyle. Director McIntyre rewards the pair with a wonderful comic sequence in the second act in which the characters are allowed to voice their irritations at each other.
Surprisingly Steve John Shepherd plays Elyot as older than one might expect; less a faded roué and more a precisely spoken politician or professor who thinks he is cleverer than other people and is prone to nasty outbursts of temper. Whilst Elyot occasionally contemplates the consequences of his actions Jill Halfpenny’s Amanda is more anarchic, dismissive of society’s norms, particularly as they apply to women, and takes a sensual pleasure in life.
By refusing to be awed by the revered status of the play The Royal Exchange ensures their production of Private Lives is fresh and very funny.
Runs until 2nd May 2026
The Reviews Hub Star Rating
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8
