Private Lives

1930. Noel Coward's brilliant wit, barbed humor and clear, uncompromising eye for human foibles is clearly revealed in his masterpiece Private Lives. The two central characters in the play are Elyot and Amanda, divorced, aging upper-class lovers who cannot live with or without each other. The artfully constructed, consciously contrived plot has them unknowingly sharing a terrace in a French resort hotel where they have both gone on honeymoon with their new, young and intellectually-challenged spouses. Horrified by the unexpected coincidence, the older lovers urge their new mates to join them in immediate flight, pleas instantly rejected by the resentful younger pair who individually storm off to dinner alone. Side-by-side on the terrace, Amanda and Elyot realize they still love each other and flee together to Paris. They are pursued there by their abandoned mates and the repercussions are hilarious.