The full cast has been announced for the upcoming revival of Noël Coward’s Private Lives, directed by 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award winner Tanuja Amarasuriya.
This new production is a co-production between Octagon Theatre Bolton, Mercury Theatre Colchester, and Rose Theatre Kingston, in association with Northern Stage, and supported by The Royal Theatrical Support Trust.
Private Lives will open at Octagon Theatre Bolton from 4–27 September, before touring to Mercury Theatre Colchester (1–11 October), Rose Theatre Kingston (14–25 October), Bristol Old Vic (28 October–1 November), and Northern Stage (4–8 November).
The cast includes Jodie Cuaresma (Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC; Boundless, Mercury Theatre) as Louise, Ashley Gerlach (Coriolanus, National Theatre; Patriots, West End) as Victor, and Chirag Benedict Lobo (Rope, Theatr Clwyd; Life of Pi, West End) as Elyot.
Pepter Lunkuse (Noises Off, West End & UK Tour; Educating Rita, Vienna English Theatre) will play Amanda, with Sade Malone (Lord of the Flies, Leeds Playhouse; Pistol, FX/Disney+) as Sibyl.
Peter Stone and Imogen Khan join the company as understudies.
The creative team includes Jennifer Kay (Movement Director), Amy Jane Cook (Set & Costume Designer), Tim X Atack (Sound Designer), Haruka Kuroda (Fight & Intimacy Director), Chris Davey (Lighting Designer), and Polly Jerrold (Casting Director).
Tanuja Amarasuriya is a Bristol-based director and co-founder of the multi-artform company Sleepdogs. Her directing credits include DELAY (Bristol Old Vic), Out of Sorts (Theatre503), and The Paper Man (Improbable/Tobacco Factory/Soho Theatre).
She has also worked as associate director on Good (Harold Pinter Theatre), Medea (@sohoplace), and Rock Follies (Chichester Festival), and was staff director at the National Theatre for The Importance of Being Earnest.
Speaking about the production, Amarasuriya said:
“I was absolutely thrilled to win the 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award, and I am totally stoked to be working with Bolton Octagon, Colchester Mercury, the Rose Theatre and Northern Stage on this production.
Noël Coward’s PRIVATE LIVES is a brilliant play – funny, sexy, shocking – and full of bittersweet truths about the complex difficulties of relationships.
When I first read it, I was amazed by how modern these characters felt – their contradictions, needs and insecurities feel so recognisable even now.
This production will bring it to life for audiences in a way that combines the glamour and screwball comedy thrill of the 1930s with a vibrant, immediate energy that speaks straight to 2025.
I’m super excited to be working with this fabulous cast and team to do that.”
The RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award supports emerging directors by offering the opportunity to direct a mid-scale touring production in regional theatres across the UK.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
