Theater Review—

‘Private Lives,’ On A Public Stage

By Julie Stern

Shakespeare’s greatest comedies often turned on the device of what English professors called “the witty couple”:  the challenge of pairing up an unwilling hero and heroine, who were both too proud, headstrong, and independent to acknowledge their need for each other. Think Taming of the Shrew or Much Ado for two classic examples of the genre.

For most of the play, Kate and Petrucchio or Beatrice and Benedict are too busy insulting each other and declaring their indifference to realize that they are falling in love, but the rules of comedy demand that by the final scene they are happily melting in each other’s arms.

American movies observed this convention with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, or, more recently, with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.

Such is the trajectory of Noel Coward’s 1930 dissection of marriage, Private Lives, except that it is a little bit different — perhaps a little darker. Long Wharf Theatre is currently presenting this work.

The plot is set in motion by the coincidence that the two couples occupying adjoining honeymoon suites in a seaside hotel on the French Riviera include an ex-husband and ex-wife, whose first marriage was marred by violent stormy clashes.

Now, clever Eliot Chase has opted for a calm, sedate relationship with chirpy little Sybil, while his frivolous former wife, Amanda, has chosen strong, stalwart, conventional Victor. They both intend that their second marriages be sounder and more responsible. This lasts only long enough for Eliot and Amanda to step out on their shared terrace and discover each other’s presence.

Though they had claimed to hate each other, and have fled a disastrous union, the powerful sexual attraction asserts itself and they abandon their new spouses and run off to Paris together, where they plan to live in civil bliss, governed by a new sense of maturity and self-control.

Whenever they start to bicker, one of them will say a code phrase — “Solomon Isaacs” — which will remind them to stop it immediately. After all, they know they love each other and this is their chance to be happy…

But, according to Coward, there is unfortunately, a gap between the charming, attractive personae that we present in public (putting our best foot forward) and our “private lives” in which we let our selfish, jealous, childish, temperamental side take over. Thus the Parisian interlude, which begins as a period of romantic bliss turns into another of the fights that had characterized their first marriage.

Of course this is just the moment that Victor and Sybil arrive on the scene, looking for redress of their grievance, but also teetering on the brink of falling for each other. Would they behave this badly if they married each other? Or would they be more responsible and sensible? Ho, ho, ho…

Like Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward was famous for his rapier wit, and his characters, Eliot and Amanda sling one-liners at each other with devastating accuracy, while the physical comedy of the play revolves around the progressive dismantling of the elegant, lavishly detailed set, as they stop throwing insults and start hurling dishes, pillows, and fruit.

Tom Hewitt and Shannon Cochran are well matched as the short tempered lovers, while Will Kempe and Christian Corp are properly doltish and shrewish as their humorless temporary replacements. It’s obvious that Eliot and Amanda belong together, even if they sometimes behave very badly.

This is a lovingly staged period piece that, like the extravaganzas of Busby Berkeley and the comedies of Phillip Barry, brought some needed light into the dark days of the Great Depression.

(Performances continue until February 5. Call 203-787-4282 or visit LongWharf.org for full performance and ticket details.)