Private Lives , MTC, 17 Jan 1996

by Noel Coward

Melbourne theatre Company

At Fairfax Studio until 17 Feb 1996

Reviewer: Kate Herbert, reviewed around 17 Jan 1996

 

Aah, how terribly, terribly gay, how simply darling, how arch and sublimely droll is Private Lives, Noel Coward's wicked play from the naughty 30's just after the decadent 20's in which he was so - well, so wicked.

 

Coward was not merely a playwright. He was a personality, and he is written all over the role of the caddish rake, Elyot (NB pretentious "y") Chase played with tongue firmly in cheek by Louis Fiander.

 

Chase, with his pretty silly young bride are on honeymoon when he almost falls over his also honey-mooning ex-wife, Amanda (Pamela Rabe) who is still evidently the most "thrilling, exciting woman" he has ever met. Needless to say, they run away together. Appalling behaviour but a great recipe for farce.

 

Coward would be writing for Denton if alive now. His plays may be museum pieces, but he writes a mean gag and, in the hands of Fiander and the provocative and hilarious Rabe, he comes alive.

 

Rabe as the emotional ping-pong Amanda, shifts effortlessly between lusty hilarity, poignant love and shrewishness.

 

 Tammy McCarthy and William McInnes, as the abandoned spouses, are superb supports. McCarthy does a charming line in brisk and dippy while McInnes is adorable as the proper but goofy, stiff-upper-lipped Brit.

 

It wouldn't be Coward without some gloriously decadent Deco Paris apartment nor a few luxurious gowns and Shaun Gurton's design and Vanessa Leyonhjelm's frocks are "incredible" (with a French accent).

 

Director, Roger Hodgman, has produced perfect Summer fluff. It moves at a brisk pace except for a slow patch in Act Two but the final battle royal is worth the waiting. There are touches of post-20s sexual politics. The two may be "liberated" but Chase whacks Amanda on the odd occasion. How did they get away with a line like, "Certain women should be struck regularly like gongs."

 

The show is perfect Summer fluff. It moves at a brisk pace except for a slow patch in Act Two but their final battle royal is worth the wait. There are touches of post-20s sexual politics. The two may be "liberated" but Chase whacks Amanda on the odd occasion. How did they get away with a line like, "Certain women should be struck regularly like gongs."