Amanda Prynne is that rare female character who can describe herself
to a T: Not innocent and girlish, as she explains to second husband
Victor in Noël Coward’s 1930 comedy, Private Lives, but
“jagged with sophistication.” It’s perfect imagery for someone who
falls in a lineage of hard, intelligent British women, from Elizabeth
Bennet on down. At the beginning of Private Lives, Amanda and
Victor are honeymooning in a posh French hotel, blissfully unaware that
her ex-husband, Elyot Chase, lies just next door with his own new
spouse. Trouble ensues once Amanda and Elyot bump into each other,
causing a combustible reaction. Passions rekindle, hard feelings
resurface, and new relationships vaporize. It’s enough drama to buoy a
two-and-a-half hour comedy of manners, now almost a century old but
still relevant to anyone who’s endured a horrible divorce, or sustained
a “closet” relationship. A new Cal Shakes production stays true to the
original setting but approaches Coward’s themes from a modern
sensibility — so the talk is sexier and the passion more violent.
Directed by the amazing Mark Rucker, it’s both a character study and a
primer on what not to do in a relationship. As comedy, it’s
terrific.
This Private Lives has the appearance of being concise and
spare — two sets, three acts, five characters — when it’s
actually quite complex. First off, it requires incredible stamina on
the part of its male and female lead. Amanda (played by the regal Diana
LaMar) and Elyot (Stephen Barker Turner) both have long swaths in
dialogue in which they attempt to iron out their marital difficulties,
but wind up volleying insults and hurling allegations at one another.
Secondly, it’s an incredibly busy production. The stage directions for
Elyot and Amanda’s fight scenes require them to constantly move about
the space, tromping up stairwells, breaking furniture, or punching
frustratedly at the air. It can get a bit distracting at times, but it
helps underline two of the play’s main themes: 1) That love and war are
hopelessly intertwined and 2) that affluent, well-mannered Brits can be
downright savage behind closed doors.
And granted, they’re an absolutely perfect match. Brainy,
cosmopolitan Amanda is much better suited to Elyot than his new wife
Sybil (played by Sarah Nealis, who recently starred in Cal Shakes’
Romeo and Juliet). Sartorial choices alone speak volumes about
the two women: Amanda, with her dark bob and classy evening gowns,
versus red-headed Sybil with her blobby, floral-print dresses. It’s
like trying to compare a noir heroine to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Moreover, hot-blooded Elyot piques Amanda’s interest much more than her
current husband, the staid Victor Prynne (played by another Romeo
and Juliet emeritus, the excellent Jud Williford). This Private
Lives is, in fact, full of symbolism that highlights the sexual
chemistry between Elyot and Amanda, from their matching pajamas to the
way they chomp olives from their martini glasses. When they first meet
on the hotel terrace, an orchestra plays Perry Como’s “Someday I’ll
Find You” over and over again, causing Elyot to almost lose composure:
“Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.”
LaMar and Turner are two extraordinary actors who obviously
understand their characters and know how to get in the psychology of a
bad relationship. In the first act, Amanda describes them as “two vile
acids bubbling about in a matrimonial bottle,” which turns out to be
apropos. The second act follows the ex-spouses to Amanda’s apartment in
Paris, with its old-fashioned rotary telephone, opera 45s, and colored
lanterns dangling from the ceiling. For about five minutes they seem
contentedly enraptured with one another, and the next instant, someone
says something to upset that fragile equilibrium. Fighting, for them,
amounts to a form of pas de deux: Both are snappy and
sharp-witted, but also quick to use teeth, claws, and fists. Such
turbulence, juxtaposed with the cloying torch songs that never fail to
ignite old passions, is what brings this relationship to life.
Private Lives is a thoroughly wonderful play. Coward’s script
is a long series of quips and witty rejoinders, and Rucker’s
interpretation gives it more of a barbed edge. The dialogue crackles,
and the actors — including Liam Vincent, who waltzes in toward
the end to play an irritable French butler — all inhabit their
roles with gusto. Best of all, it’s familiar and utterly unpredictable
at the same time. There’s that “aha” moment at the beginning, when
Amanda and Elyot accidentally cross paths, fall back in love, and have
their first recon mission. Thenceforth you’re pretty sure which way
this play’s headed. But then, all of a sudden, it goes the other way.
You’re in the grip of these characters with their poor decisions and
perilous relationships, and you have no idea what’s going to happen
next. But that’s most of the fun.
