Private Lives: A BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection)

Elyot Chase, five years divorced, has just married a young bride, Sybil, with whom he is on his honeymoon at a French seaside resort. His former wife, Amanda Prynne, has also just remarried, and, coincidentally, she and Victor, her new husband, are also honeymooning--in the room next door. Almost immediately, Elyot and Amanda rediscover each other on their adjoining balconies, find themselves drawn to each other, and abandon their new spouses at the resort to run away together to Paris.

The major action of the play shows us the relationship of Elyot and Amanda in Paris as they try to sustain their rekindled love and avoid the pitfalls that destroyed their original marriage. Both are passionate, uninhibited, live-in-the-moment people, and both have married very traditional, predictable, and conformist new spouses. When Sybil and Victor eventually discover the lovers, who, by now, are fighting and even engaging in fisticuffs, Coward makes his point about the nature of relationships, their fragility and/or what makes them endure.

Though the play is set in the 1930s, Coward so accurately captures human traits and behavior that the play is still delighting audiences today. In his opening scene, for example, he shows Sybil subjecting new husband Elyot to a mood-killing interrogation about his former wife. He then turns this scene on its head by showing Victor interrogating Amanda about her honeymoon with Elyot, showing the two new spouses to be identical to each other--and completely opposite to Elyot and Amanda. The scenes in Paris, in which Elyot and Amanda, their passion rekindled, try to keep their roiling anger under control are hilarious, and when they eventually resort to slapping and dish-throwing, the elegant verbal duels and clever repartee we have seen till now change the play into a more visually exciting and more farcical experience.

The ending of the play is not really a resolution, but it does confirm Coward's theme that though opposites may attract in the short term, this kind of attraction may not be as powerful as the attraction between like characters, which, however, can change instantly when familiarity breeds contempt. Sardonic and sometimes a bit cynical, the play artfully captures the vicissitudes of a wild, passionate relationship and provides insights into its inner workings. Mary Whipple


Don't buy this edition--Methuen's ruined Noel's classic   January 27, 2005
 1 out of 4 found this review helpful

Noel's plays are always a delight to read, but Methuen's ruined the fun with this single play edition.
I spotted at least two major mistakes up to only p.12 and my reading flow was ruined.

>>First lies on page five:

> > Sibyl: I married you because I loved you.
> > Elyot: Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
> > Elyot: I love you far more than Amanda loved you. I'd never make you
> > miserable like she did.
> > Elyot: We made each other miserable.
> >
the second Elyot seen here should have been Sibyl instead, and when I first encountered the passage, it took me 10 seconds before I realized what was going on.

> > Then a typo lies on Page 12:
> >
> >
> > Amanda: Wait and see. When I am done a nice crisp brown, you'll fall in
> > love with me all over again.
> > Victor: I couldn't love you move than I do now.
> >
The word "move" seen above is really "more"

I contacted Methuen, but they couldn't even be bothered to verify the text, and I had to prove the mistakes are on Methuen's side myself by going to the library and compare different editions.
I don't have good access to a library carrying Coward's play so it tooke me quite a bit of time and energy.

So keep away from this edition if you mind this kind of mistakes.


If there was only one Noel Coward play...   June 2, 2001
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

"If he comes near me, I shall scream the place down!" proclaims Elyot Chase, who quite by chance meets his ex wife Amanda Prynne as they are both desperately trying to enjoy their second honeymoons, quite by chance, in adjacent bedrooms in France. Their respective spouses haven't realised stickiness of the situation, as Amanda and Elyot quickly rekindle their passion for each other and take off for Paris. The pipe smoking Victor Prynne and piano playing Sibyl Chase are left behind bewilderedly licking each other's wounds.

Elyot and Amanda's tense and volatile relationship swings violently from sickeningly loving to expertly aggresive in the course of their reunion. The somewhat lost and confused Sybil and Victor then arrive at Amanda's Paris flat, with reconciliation and living happily ever after set fast in their minds.

After each member in the menage a quatre almost trips over the maid, the vesuvius that is the situation erupts. Madness, near-violence, French, and plopping are all guarenteed.

Private Lives is Noel Coward at his best. Coward himself was very fond of this 'good little play' even if he did have to 'hit Larry Olivier on the head to get him to play Victor Prynne.' If you are looking for an introduction to the genius of Noel Coward's writing, then this is the best starting point. If an established Coward fan then this is a vital addition to your collection.

Read it, buy it, play it - it cannot be ignored!