Private Lives
Of all Noel Coward's 'well made plays', known for their sparkling dialogue and lightness of tone, Private Lives arguably has the most going on beneath its surface.
'Noel Coward was accused sometimes of being a superficial writer,' says Adam Harris, director of Stylus Productions, which is staging a four-day run of the play, starting on Wednesday, at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.
'His plays are held up as just being vehicles for his wit, and I would refute that for Private Lives. I think it's very insightful about human relationships. It's billed as high comedy, but there's a lot of poignancy to it too,' Harris says.
The play, first performed in 1930, is about a divorced couple who meet unexpectedly while on honeymoon with their new spouses, and find their old passion is still burning. Having decided they can't live apart, however, they swiftly rediscover they can't live together.
There are relationships like that in real life - some of them between actors who have played the two leads, Elyot and Amanda. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in a 1983 Broadway production, seven years after their second divorce, and the parallels between the play and their private lives helped make the show a box office hit.
