ARTS REVIEW: ‘PRIVATE LIVES’
Humorous Stage Production Essays Trials, Tribulations, Triumphs of Marriage
(International City Theatre in Long Beach, California) Noel Coward’s Private Lives is brought to the Long Beach International Theatre and Luke Yankee for the next few weeks -- a tale worthy of being seen by anyone single, engaged, married, separated, and divorced – who can laugh at the institution of marriage without disgracing the sanctimony of matrimony?
Quite the popular tale, Private Lives has traveled the world and visited many a stage along the way, sharing with audiences affairs of the heart in the context of two divorcees who realized they should never have parted ways in the first place.
If only both of them were not on their respective honeymoons on the French Riviera with their second spouses on the same night, in the same hotel, in adjacent rooms.
Originally penned by Mr. Coward in 1930, Private Lives is timely in many regards, what with modern society questioning the value of marital affairs where individual quirks and personal resolve fail to give way for compromise and communal happiness.
Such happiness appears to be clearly feigned during Act I, when Elyot Chase (Freddy Douglas) and his second wife, Sibyl (Jennice Butler), step onto a terrace of a French Hotel on a beautiful summer evening. Insecure about her new husband’s previous marriage, Sybil almost immediately nags Elyot about his first honeymoon with Amanda (Caroline Kinsolving). Visibly agitated and annoyed, Elyot is beginning to feel his second honeymoon fade away before it even starts.
Equally feigned marital bliss is evident when Victor Prynne (Adam J. Smith) pesters Amanda’s head about Elyot with similar fervor...and results.
The resulting arguments drive Amanda and Elyot to solitude, and it is in that very moment both discover their respectively odd fates of sharing an evening in the South of France on a honeymoon...with different spouses.
Mayhem ensues when both realize they are traveling down the wrong path of love. Finding the very same passion that drew them together many moons before, Elyot and Amanda rediscover old flames once burning so bright but quelled after years of bickering and hatred, only to be reignited again under the most unusual and unpredictable of circumstances.
Yet, love was not the only feeling returning on that fateful night. Upon escaping together to Paris, both Elyot and Amanda also rediscover how they each drove the other to the verge of insanity.
What transpires both in the romantic South of France and in the hustle and bustle of Paris is a sophisticated tale of repressing private passion in the name of maintaining a public persona. Through Mr. Coward’s dark humor, Private Lives provides poignant social commentary of the ceremonial pleasantries people exchange with each other while hiding the true spirit and persona of who each person truly is on the inside. Even more, it is when life throws us a curve ball when we, as individuals, realize the hidden realities of those we thought we knew, as well of the very issues that truly matter to us most.
Combining witty dialogue with glamorous flair, flamboyant characters – including the wildly hilarious maid, Louise (Wendy Cutler), who does not make long enough of an appearance – charming sets, and subtly intelligent comedy, Private Lives is well-executed on the stage of the International City Theatre.
Mr. Douglas and Ms. Kinsolving are captivating as two lovers who, at times, appear as if they have a case of the Virginia Woolf. Mr. Douglas positively reeks of upper class sophistication and class, while Ms. Kinsolving brilliantly and confidently carries the glamour of Old Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Ms. Butler is masterful as the high-pitched bubbly blonde, and Mr. Smith is pleasing as the peaceful gentleman who loses his cool when he metaphorically gets a little dirt on his elbows and knees.
Produced by caryn desai, Private Lives is playing at the ICT on Thursdays through Sundays through September 18, 2011. All shows are at 8:00 p.m. except for Sundays, when the ICT opens its doors for a 2:00 p.m. matinee. Tickets for Thursday showings are $37, while Friday, Saturday, and Sunday performances are $44.
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