Private Lives 13-14

“It’s a pity you didn’t have any more brandy; it might have made you a little less disagreeable.”

Noël Coward’s fast-talking, manners-breaking comedy makes its STC debut to finish a stellar season. The play opens in a blissful hotel in France where divorcées Elyot and Amanda are on honeymoon with their new spouses. One evening, the ex-couple discover each other on neighboring balconies and as they try to maintain a veneer of etiquette and respectability, old feelings make matters complicated. What follows is a boxing match of words, manners laced with subtext and glamour that rendered this play as the epitome of Noël Coward’s style and technique. Private Lives is a witty and irreverent play about the people we cannot live with or without.

Learn more in
ASIDES MAGAZINE

View a program from the production.

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[accordion-item title=”Features & Reviews”]
The Washington Post interviews Director Maria Aitkin on “keeping Coward’s blithe spirit alive.

On Tap Magazine interviews actors Bianca Amato and James Waterston.

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“That breeze wafting through the Lansburgh Theatre is the air of soigné craftsmanship, borne on the currents of director Maria Aitken’s suavely attired revival of Noël Coward’s evergreen comedy, Private Lives.”
Washington Post

“Its unabashed sensuality …made it daring in its own time and surprisingly fresh in ours.”
Daily Progress

“Break out the Champagne and foie gras, everyone—it’s time to celebrate the effervescent revival of Noël Coward’s Private Lives at Shakespeare Theatre.
Washingtonian

“It may be the best thing since Coward and Gertrude Lawrence performed it the first time in 1930.”
Washington Life

“You’d be hard pressed to find a better night at the theatre.”
MD Theatre Guide

“Remarkably timeless edge”
Metro Weekly

“Gorgeous, funny, alive”
Washington Blade

“An absolute dream of a theatre experience.”
Broadway World

“★★★★”
DC Metro Theater Arts

“Airily amusing”
City Paper

“Being a fly on the wall has never been so alluring.”
Alexandria Times
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[accordion-item title=”The Cast”]
Bianca Amato*
Amanda

Autumn Hurlbert*
Sibyl

Jane Ridley*
Louise

James Waterston*
Elyot

Jeremy Webb*
Victor

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.
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[accordion-item title=”The Artistic team”]
Maria Aitken
Director

Allen Moyer
Set Designer

Candice Donnelly
Costume Designer

Philip S. Rosenberg
Lighting Designer

Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen
Sound Designer & Music Arrangements

Barbara Irvine
Music Director

Daniel Pelzig
Choreographer

Ted Hewlett
Fight Choreographer

Ellen O’Brien
Head of Voice and Text

Alaine Alldaffer
Original Casting Director

Jack Bowdan/Binder Casting
Additional Casting

Drew Lichtenberg
Literary Associate

Gus Heagerty
Assistant Director

Leslie Sears*
Production Stage Manager

Elizabeth Clewley*
Assistant Stage Manager
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