Private Lives

Revived in 2002 by the Royal National Theatre in a production that sparkled on Broadway, Private Lives is one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, meet by chance, reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear and a roundelay of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then apart, and new partnerships are formed. A uniquely humorous play boasting numerous successful Broadway runs with stars like Coward himself, Laurence Olivier, Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Tammy Grimes, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Private Lives premiered on August 18, 1930 at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, directed by playwright Noël Coward and starring Coward as Elyot, Gertrude Lawrence as Amanda, Laurence Olivier as Victor and Adrianne Allen as Sibyl. The play debuted on Broadway at the Times Square Theatre on January 27, 1931 with Coward, Lawrence and Olivier reprising their roles and Jill Esmond, who had married Olivier a few months earlier, as Sibyl.

“Gorgeous, dazzling, fantastically funny.” – The New York Times

“A gleaming and gleeful comedy.” – The New York Post

“A brilliant comedy. A very funny play.” – Newsweek

Content Warning: Themes of verbal and physical domestic altercations and mature language.