A major revival of Noël Coward’s hilarious masterpiece, Private Lives will embark on a prior to the West End UK tour starring stage and screen stars Tom Chambers (Top Hat, Strictly Come Dancing) as the loveable and charming Elyot and Laura Rogers (Tipping The Velvet, An Ideal Husband) as the unconventional and vivacious Amanda, alongside Charlotte Ritchie (Call The Midwife, One Night in November) as Sybil and Richard Teverson (Downton Abbey) as Victor.
This glittering production of one of the greatest plays of all time, with the opening weekend at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, on Fri 15 – 16 January 2016, directed by Tom Attenborough, with designs by Lucy Osborne, lighting by Oliver Fenwick and sound by Gregory Clarke.
Other confirmed venues for this major new production of Private Lives include the Churchill Theatre, Bromley (18-23 January), Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent (25-30 January), Theatre Royal, Brighton (1-6 February), New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (8-13 February), Richmond Theatre (15-20 February), Theatre Royal, Glasgow (22-27 February), Princess Theatre, Torquay (29 February – 5 March), Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury (7-12 March) and Theatre Royal, Bath (14-19 March).
Private Lives, written in just three days, remains Coward’s greatest success and the play that marked the peak of his career. Elyot (a role originated by Coward himself) and Amanda are a gloriously selfish divorced couple who, by a quirk of fate, meet again on their honeymoons with their new spouses and reignite their old spark,. The revival of their fiery romance, alternating between heated rows and passionate reconciliations, reminds them that although they cannot live with each other, nor can they live without.
A masterpiece of 1930’s high comedy full of razor sharp wit and sparkling dialogue, Private Lives remains one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written, offering an evening of acutely sharp, divinely decedent, and unashamed humour.
