Reviews

If you ever doubted that love and hate are two sides of the same coin, watch Elyot and Amanda going at each other... You're never quite sure if they're going to beat each other to a pulp or get locked in a passionate embrace.

And that's the basis of Noel Coward's classic play, Private Lives... can you live with someone you love? Or with someone you don't?

The Wolsey's production is rooted firmly in the year the play was written - 1930 - but there are no "terribly, terribly" clipped accents or cigarette holders... This isn't stylised and fake, as representations of the era can be - but the characters feel totally real. And the guts of the story is as relevant today as it would have been 75 years ago - but what else would you expect from a writer known as The Master?

Granted, they are posh, mon-ied and witty - but that's no different to the Richard Curtis comedies of today.

Elyot, played by Tom Beard, and Hattie Ladbury's Amanda are perfectly cast as the clever, passionate and possibly doomed couple who love to hate and hate to love each other. When they fight - they really fight! How neither of them ends up with genuine bruises or a bloody nose, I don't know. Equally, when they're feeling romantic, there seems a genuine closeness and intimacy. And during the song (for those not keen on musicals, there's just the one, and it says a lot about the characters' relationship) they both sing well too.

The supporting characters were equally well portrayed. Sybil, played by Saskia Butler, may be a little silly and naive, but she was never stupid. And John Dougall was convincing as the old-school Victor - full of pomposity, but not without reason.

And Pascale Burgess as the French maid delivered her entirely French dialogue at such a frenetic pace, it felt as if she was genuinely from the other side of the channel. Again, she was no 'Allo 'Allo stereotype, but a real person caught up in the muddle of other people's lives.

The set was stunningly beautiful - all black and white. The hotel terrace seemed to capture the style of 1930s buildings perfectly... And the Paris flat set was sumptuous and yet almost realistic. I'm sure anyone buying a penthouse on Ipswich's waterfront would be delighted to have something half as stylish.

My only little criticism would be of the end. Having had a brilliant fight scene earlier in the play, the final contretemps just didn't feel real. And Elyot and Amanda seemed to be left hovering in the background.

That said, if was a funny, entertaining and touching production I can happily recommend.

CAST:
Sybil - Saskia Butler
Elyot - Tom Beard
Victor - John Dougall
Amanda - Hattie Ladbury
Louise - Pascale Burgess

The play is running till the 1st of April and tickets are available from the theatre website, or from the box office.