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Private Lives

 
Paul T. Davies Review by Paul T. Davies 3 Published: 3 Oct 2025 Mercury Theatre - Colchester Show Dates: 1 Oct 2025-11 Oct 2025

There’s an anticipation that a classic play such as this one will be “reinvented” in today’s climate. In an interesting programme note, director Tanuja Amarasuriya, winner of the RTST Award, was told by a producer: “I look forward to seeing what you do with that dusty museum piece.” She then defends its relevance, pointing out that toxic relationships abound and that opinions on social media are as strident as the play’s central relationship.

It is the subtlety of the song that makes it memorable.

Apart from an unnecessary opening song, which adds nothing to the show, she embraces the play’s roots but doesn’t manage to solve the problem that it shows its age – and that wife-beating played for jokes does not sit easily with 2025 audiences. The main problem is that her production is shrieky instead of zesty, lacking light and shade and any subtlety to explore the emotional minefield of obsessive love.

This seeps into the performances. Noel Coward was a closeted gay man in 1930s Britain, and he created and played the part of Elyot when the play debuted. Maybe that is steeped in the DNA of the role, but Chirag Benedict Lobo’s performance is so camp and over the top it is hard to believe in his relationship with ex-wife and true passion Amanda. His single note is that of spoilt brat. Certainly, it gives Pepter Lunkuse little to work with, except to race towards over the top as well. There is no chemistry between them.

Sade Malone gives a good performance as Sibyl, but again there is lack of nuance. Best of the four is Ashley Gerlach’s excellent Victor, really conveying his lovestruck innocence with strong comic timing. But the production is so strident we never really see the heartbreak under the selfish motivations of the main couple. Sensitivity about attitudes towards violence means that the fight sequences are a little insipid and telegraphed, even taking away an opportunity for the comedy to go dark. The second half also needs to pick up pace.

Amy Jane Cook’s art deco set is gorgeous and functional, as are her costumes, but the wigs feel as if they are from a more modern age, featuring colours not popular in the 1930s.

For me, the show is problematic as it is played in one pitch only, which is a great shame. As potent as cheap music is, it is the subtlety of the song that makes it memorable.

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The Blurb:

Love and chaos collide in Noël Coward’s timeless comedy Private Lives, directed by 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award-winner Tanuja Amarasuriya.

Amanda and Elyot are charming, rich, utterly reckless – and divorced. When they meet unexpectedly on the first night of their honeymoons with new partners, in the balmy moonlight of the French Riviera, old flames re-ignite, and impulsive love takes hold. But they divorced for a reason, and their fiery romance soon spirals into a chaotic riot of passionate desire, slanging matches and outrageous battles.

Set against a backdrop of 1930s glamour, Noël Coward’s Private Lives is a sparkling comedy of manners – hilarious, stylish, and a rollercoaster of emotions, filled with razor-sharp wit, sizzling chemistry, and timeless sophistication.

Content to Consider

This show is 14+, and contains physical violence, depictions of alcohol consumption and smoking and scenes of emotional conflict.