DAZZLINGLY PRODUCTION OF COWARD'S COMIC CRAFT

Noel Coward's Private Lives is a three-act 1930s comedy of manners about the propinquity of love and violence. Directed by Richard Eyre, Private Lives is a beautifully perceptive play that captures the bittersweet complexities of passion, where overwhelming feelings lead to rash and absurd action, pain and loss of dignity.

Private Lives tells the story of divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, who can't live with each other, but can't live without each other, either. Five years after their divorce, while both are on honeymoon with their new spouses, they meet again when they discover that by pure chance they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Realising they are still in love, the former husband and wife decide to run away together to Amanda's smart Art Deco flat in Paris. But amidst the powerful feelings of crazed desire, their refreshed romance spirals into bitter bickering, back-biting and recriminations.

Amanda and Elyot are masterfully played by Kim Cattrall, whose work centres largely on film and TV (most notably Sex and the City), and Matthew Macfadyen, of Spooks and Pride and Prejudice fame. Their partnership in this production, though incongruous, has reaped acclaim from critics.