Sometimes, old flames don’t die, but come back with a roaring and furious passion. This is the case with Noel Coward’s 1930 play Private Lives, a quick-witted and entertaining comedy of manners that gets close to our deepest and most passionate human faults. Director Noah McBrayer Jones debuts the first production on Theatre Knoxville Downtown’s new expanded stage that boasts 4 feet of extra frontage bringing actors closer to the audience. TKD’s production of Private Lives brings the in-your-face comedic confrontations of this play closer than ever before, which nicely emphasizes the intimacy of this close-knit four-hander.
Set in a few luxurious locations in 1930’s France, Private Lives follows newlyweds Sibyl and Elyot Chase on their honeymoon. Little do they know that Elyot’s ex-wife, Amanda, is also newly wed to Victor Prynne, and that couple is spending their honeymoon at the same hotel and are in adjacent rooms to the Chases. A chance encounter between Elyot and Amanda reignites their old flame, and the two decide to abandon their new spouses and run away together to Paris. However, their old demons and passionate arguing is also reignited along with their romance, and everyone involved in this love “square” must figure out where their alliances and love lie.
TKD’s new expansion opened the stage for interesting new set designs and innovation. For Private Lives, this extra space allowed Set Designer Seth Reilly to conceal a secret, second room to be hidden behind the initial flats that represented the terrace of the French hotel we first encounter. After the first act, the flats are rolled back to reveal Amanda’s Paris apartment, decorated with art deco designs and vintage furniture and fixtures that felt authentic to the time period and setting. This scene change was a nice surprise, and I’m excited to see what other creative concepts for set design TKD can execute with their expanded space.
Once the action begins, we first meet Sibyl Chase, played by Kelby Cox, young, blonde, and innocent almost to a fault. She naively romanticizes Elyot and is quite jealous of Amanda, to Elyot’s chagrin. Cox is charming in this role, delicate but also snappy when the time comes to stand up for herself against Elyot’s deception and Victor’s insults. She emotes humorously, squeaking and squealing to timely comedic effect; I found Cox’s performance to be one of the funniest in the whole production. Elyot Chase, played by Dalton Davis, is smooth and calculating, but loses his cool after spotting Amanda on the hotel terrace. However, Davis’s coolness can be a bit flat in places and could potentially lay on the smarm a bit more to make Elyot more unpleasant; he and Amanda seem to be the type of character that you love to hate and laugh at because they’re so insufferable.
Amanda Prynne, played by Helena Jordan, is the total opposite of Sibyl: a true “new woman” of the 1930s who is liberated in her conduct, both personal and sexual. Jordan commands the stage and is fierce, unwavering in her convictions even if they are occasionally misguided. And Victor, played by Andrew Kleisser, is also a commanding presence in his own way; Kleisser has his own, more collected form of control, but each character loses their grasp on the situation in the final act as they all show their darker sides in a tumultuous, climatic heated argument.
There is one more character in this play that we see only toward the end: Louise, the French housekeeper of Amanda’s Paris flat. Courtney Woolard as Louise comes almost out of nowhere, decked in rich, colorful, bohemian scarves and wraps and fussing about the increasingly untidy apartment. You can barely understand a word she says in her exaggerated French accent, but it’s funny and it’s clear that she’s frustrated by the aftermath of the feuding couples. Woolard is a nice comedic relief during the moments when the bickering couples begin grating on each other’s—and the audience’s—nerves.
Private Lives runs until March 22 with showings on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm and matinees on Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are available at their box office, located at 800 South Central Street, or online at https://theatreknoxville.com/private-lives/.
