Last Chance Review: "Private Lives" at The Stagecrafters

While the two main characters are giving each other another chance, this weekend is the last chance to catch “Private Lives” by Noel Coward at the Stagecrafters Theater.

The play is one that catches you off-guard, with its surprisingly believable melodrama and underplayed hilarity.

The story is one of two exes, who rekindle the flame of their rocky marriage. Their timing is unfortunate, however, as they are on their honeymoons with two new spouses when their romance heats up.

Amanda and Elyot find themselves in French hotel rooms with an adjoining balcony during their respective honeymoons. The shock of seeing each other quickly snowballs into the realization that their passion for one another has not gone away during their years apart.

The following comedy comes from the unraveling of their relationships, with their spouses and each other, and watching them learn that no relationship is perfect.

The play is set in the 1920s, with the sophisticated dialect of British socialites who vacation in the south of France.

Because of the intellect behind their words, it takes a moment to realize how cutting they can be. As the characters explore passionate love versus comfortable love, their blunt honesty is masked, however poorly, by their wit.

As the love-square comes to a confrontational climax, the efforts to be civilized battle heavily with the desire to follow the whims and passions that kick-started the whole situation.

While there are four entirely different British accents in play during the production, it is easy to identify with every character, all at once. Elyot, Amanda and their respective spouses each seem to represent a part of all of us: the cynic, the free-spirit, the responsible one and the one who just wants to be loved.

While such a remarkable dilemma rarely faces the average person, each one of these characters could, in many ways, mirror our own ‘private lives.’ 

If you go: The two final performances of “Private Lives” will take place Saturday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 20, 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the door, $16 online at www.thestagecrafters.org.