Private Lives - The Barn Theatre, Cirencester

15 MAY – 24 JUN

PRIVATE LIVES

Noël Coward’s gloriously entertaining Private Lives is a soufflé of a play that stands the test of time and love. It’s a 1930 comedy of manners and concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel and sharing the same terrace. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for each other. The divorced couple plead with their respective new partners to leave the hotel, but both refuse. Elyot and Amanda are left to reminisce and discuss their regrets, resulting in them both admitting that they still love one another. The play describes the character’s constant struggle between maintaining a good image, being polite and sociable, and being true to what they each want.