Women Rule in ‘Private Lives’
(01/14/2010) Early in the first act of Noel Coward’s
 Tom Kochie Photos
|
“Private Lives,” Elyot earnestly tells his second wife on the eve of their honeymoon:
“Love is no use unless it’s wise, and kind, and undramatic. Something steady and sweet, to smooth out your nerves when you’re tired. Something tremendously cozy and unflurried by scenes of jealousies. That’s what I want, what I’ve always wanted really. Oh my dear, I do hope it’s not going to be dull for you.”
Given that this is Noel Coward, one can expect this pronouncement to be followed by a flurry of drama, without a dull moment to be had.
Coward wrote “Private Lives” while he was recovering from the flu in Shanghai, finishing the script in four days. It centers on Elyot and Amanda, two elegant, wealthy Brits who have been divorced for five years, but serendipitously meet while honeymooning with their new spouses, Sybil and Victor.
In the director Michael Disher’s deft production of “Private Lives” at the Southampton Cultural Center, the women rule. Amanda, played by Logan Kingston, and Sybil, delivered with a sassy, comedic flair by Laura Ahrens, can’t help but run circles around their male counterparts. It’s not the men’s fault — blame it on Coward, who wrote this play as a kind of love letter to his great friend Gertrude Lawrence, and gave the female characters a lot more juice.
Ms. Kingston plays Amanda as a cross between Mae
Noel Coward’s lovers Elyot (Mark Anderson) and Amanda (Logan Kingston) bicker, woo, and wrestle onstage at the Southampton Cultural Center.
|
West and Jean Harlow (not a bad mix!), with swagger, vulnerability, and fire in her belly. Ms. Ahrens, a much more prim and proper Englishwoman, is able to make a petulant, ongoing whine at once musical and hilarious.
Elyot and Victor, played by Mark Anderson and Michael Contino, do hold their own, but can’t quite match the sheer physical presence of the women. Ms. Kingston’s Amanda has a sensuality that is a fleshy force to be reckoned with. And you get the sense with Ms. Ahrens that despite her proper upbringing, if one flicks her, she’ll ignite. These are Coward’s modern women — they don’t suffer fools and they get what they want.
Under Mr. Disher’s direction, the actors keep the pace of Coward’s dialogue brisk and bright with comedic flair and flourish. There may be a tad too much busy stuff going on at times that can distract — lighting cigarettes, but not really smoking them, pouring too much cognac, but not drinking it. Mr. Disher’s set design and costume design are perfect and spare, suggesting the privilege and elegance that Coward relished.
Kudos also to Agnieszka Patak as the French housekeeper, Louise — she seemed to walk straight out of a Turner Classic comedy-of-manners film from the 1930s.
“Private Lives” is one of the most produced of Coward’s plays. It has staying power. Amanda and Elyot are bickering lovers enjoying the party of life, savoring the delight of the moment, and blowing their trumpets, as Elyot says. Sometimes they are trumpets of bitterness and anger, but mostly just high, silly notes of love and adoration.
At one point Amanda says: “I think very few people are completely normal, really, deep down in their private lives.” Here Coward’s keen, even compassionate insight shines through, telling us that when it comes to love, we’re an odd, sad, and puzzling lot just doing the best we can.
“Private Lives,” the first in the Center Stage’s triple-play event, can be seen tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The opening night for its second offering, “12 Angry Men,” will be next Thursday, and “The Laramie Project” begins Jan. 28. Tickets cost $22, $10 for students.