Review by Tara Perez
A TRUE FIVE STAR TOUR DE FORCE!
One of my favourite Barn productions of their 2022 season was Murder for Two, so when I heard that Bryan Hodgson was coming back to direct Noël Coward’s Private Lives, I was incredibly excited about the prospect.
There has always been pain beneath the champagne in Nöel Coward’s eternally beloved 1930 comedy. The set-up of Private Lives is an irresistible farce of a bitterly divorced pair bumping into one another while on honeymoon with their new spouses in France.
Coward’s immaculate script teems with solid gold one-liners that had the audience doubled up with laughter, but there’s also an innate darkness to the central dysfunctionality of the relationships, and Hodgson, the director, cleverly traverses between the humour and darkness, maintaining a light touch throughout that never overwhelms one side or the other.
Elyot, the elegant cad, played by Ricky Oakley, is in many ways like the playwright himself, a cosmopolitan thumbing his nose at the moralists tut-tutting behind his back. Oakley brings a suave
fluency to the part with great success. He is more than matched by Amanda, played by a gloriously prowling Lucy Dixon, and we soon see a challenging chemistry develop where they cannot bear to be around or apart from one another. They make each other crack up with laughter and yet as soon as they settle for a moment, Coward’s snappy, scathing dialogue releases alter egos and cruelties.
The feisty Dixon, immediately resists the traditional feminine box that condescending new husband Victor tries to place her in. When he pats her on the head, she looks as though she could hurl him off the balcony. He romanticises their coupling, while she can hardly even remember their first meeting.
Oakley and Dixon are superbly supported by Poppy Gilbert who injects real energy and hilarious comedic sadness into Elyot’s annoying, overly needy new wife Sibyl, while David Alwyn huffs and puffs as a suitably windy and obsessive, stiff shirted, Victor.
The balcony scenes in Act one are slick and snappy. The verbal fireworks and humour are electric and bounce back and forth in a constant joust of one-upmanship. As the act progresses, there’s a growing realisation that their new spouses are polar opposites. It also dawns on Elyot and Amanda that they’re still in love and they make the decision to run off together to Paris.
Elyot and Amanda’s relationship slowly spirals downwards beyond the initial ups and downs and sensual moments of their pure happiness. In the end the tumultuous chemistry is something they can’t live with.
Act two reveals the full wow and glamour of set designer, Alfie Heywood’s 1930’s Art Déco Paris apartment which flamboyantly complements the elegance of Coward’s story and provides the perfect playground for the cast to express themselves. Great lighting and sound design by Alex Musgrave and Sam Glossop add to the superb experience.
Hodgson’s pacing and handling keeps everything on point from start to finish. Brilliantly acted with incredible energy, the show demonstrates the sheer vibrancy that only Coward could bring. His mastery of language and dialogue is unparalleled.
Watch out for Victor’s interval ukulele cameos. It brought the house down! High class comedy with bite. The standing ovation at the end was thoroughly deserved. Definitely one not to miss.
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