Overview
Synopsis
In Private Lives, passion, laughter, romance, anger, and love set the stage for a battle of the sexes as divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, find themselves unwittingly thrown together in Coward’s classic comedy of manners. Unknowingly booking adjoining rooms while on honeymoon with their respective spouses, Victor and Sybil, Amanda and Elyot are forced to face their true feelings for each other. Realizing they have made a pair of mistaken marriages, the divorcees attempt to escape their mismatched partners. With haste, and under the cover of darkness, they flee their honeymoon hotel and unsuspecting spouses in search of privacy at Amanda’s secluded Paris flat. Despite their passion for each other, Amanda and Elyot begin to bicker violently, just as they had done during their marriage. It is clear that the couple cannot live with each other, but cannot live without each other either. When they are discovered several days later by their jilted spouses, all four lovers must finally acknowledge just who is really suited to whom. Fast-paced, witty, and passionate, Noel Coward’s comedy is a delightful romp.
Show Information
- Book
- Noël Coward
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
- Number of Acts
- 3
- First Produced
- 1930
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- Settings
- Contemporary, Multiple Settings
- Time & Place
- A hotel in France, A flat in Paris, 1930s
- Cast Size
- small
- Licensor
- Concord Theatricals
- Ideal For
- Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Mostly Female Cast, Includes Adult, Young Adult Characters
Context
Noel Coward wrote Private Lives in 1930 while convalescing from influenza. Directed by Coward, it premiered at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh in August 1930 and toured the UK before opening at the Phoenix Theatre in London in September of the same year. This first production featured Noel Coward himself and Gertrude Lawrence as the divorced couple, Elyot and Amanda, with Laurence Olivier and Adrienne Allen as Victor and Sybil, respectively. It transferred to Broadway in January 1931, with
to read the context for Private Lives and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Act One
The play opens on the divided terrace of two hotel rooms in France. Out of one set of french windows come Elyot and Sibyl Chase. It is the first night of their honeymoon and Sibyl is deliriously happy. She teases Elyot that this is his second honeymoon and launches into a barrage of questions about Elyot’s first wife, Amanda. He is uncomfortable talking about her, but answers Sibyl’s questions about Amanda’s looks, her temperament, and the reason the marriage broke down. Sibyl is
to read the plot for Private Lives and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Spoken |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Supporting |
Female |
Spoken |
|
|
Featured |
Female |
Spoken |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
A type of comedy, popular in the English Restoration, that made fun of social norms and mores.
A restaging of a stage production after its original run has closed.
Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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Quote Analysis
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Guide Written By:
Alexandra Appleton
Writer, editor and theatre researcher