Private Lives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Private Lives is a play written by Noel Coward in 1930. Coward, who also starred in the first production alongside Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier, wrote the play specifically with Lawrence in mind. The play was conceived on a trip around the world, and completed in only four days, while Coward was convalescing in the Peace Hotel (then known as the Cathay Hotel) in Shanghai after a bout of influenza. It was Coward's most enduringly successful work and is generally regarded as the high point of his career both commercially and artistically.
He had always declared that no leading lady would ever play the role of Amanda as well as Gertrude Lawrence did. But on the last evening he would ever spend in London, a friend urged him to see the new production with Maggie Smith in the part. Tired and ill, he reluctantly forced himself to go along to the Queens Theatre for the show. But at the end, he admitted that Maggie Smith's performance was the best he'd ever seen.
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[edit] Plot summary
The action concerns a divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, both recently remarried, who accidentally book adjoining suites at the same hotel for their honeymoons. The play centres on the two leads and their agonising realisation that they still care for each other, and contains some of Coward's best dialogue.
[edit] Reception
The play contains many of Coward's most quotable lines, as well as the original song "Someday I'll Find You", and - despite having been written specially for Lawrence - has nonetheless fared well since its inception. A sound recording of Coward and Lawrence performing scenes from the play, made by HMV in the 1930s, still survives and is available on CD, and the play was referenced heavily in the 1945 British farce See How They Run.
[edit] Productions on Broadway
Private Lives has been produced on Broadway seven times, beginning with the first production in 1931, and most recently in 2002. The 1931 production starred Noël Coward (Elyot Chase), Gertrude Lawrence (Amanda Prynne), Adrianne Allen (Sibyl Chase), and Laurence Olivier (Victor Prynne) and was directed by Coward. Other actresses who have played the character of "Amanda" on Broadway include Lindsay Duncan (2002), Joan Collins (1992), Elizabeth Taylor (1983), Maggie Smith (1975), Tammy Grimes (1969), and Tallulah Bankhead (1948).
[edit] External links
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