Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Moss Empires will present The Nigel Havers Theatre Company in Noel Coward’s gloriously entertaining Private Lives. This will be the inaugural show for The Nigel Havers Theatre Company, which will be touring the country with a wonderful line-up of theatrical gems. The UK Tour of Private Lives will begin at Theatre Royal Bath on 28 October 2021.
The production stars Olivier Award-winning Patricia Hodge, one of the country’s most loved actresses, as Amanda and Nigel Havers, ever suave and thoroughly charming, as Elyot, the role taken by Noël Coward himself in the original production in 1930. Astonishingly, it is the first time Nigel Havers has appeared in a Coward play on stage. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart plays Victor, Natalie Walter Sibyl and Aïcha Kossoko Louise.
Coward’s dazzling comic masterpiece is both a scintillatingly witty and scathingly vitriolic study of the rich and reckless in love. Elyot and Amanda, who were once married, find themselves in adjoining rooms in the same hotel on the French coast, both on honeymoon with their new partners. Their initial horror quickly evaporates and soon they’re sharing cocktails and a romantic serenade.
Private Lives will be directed by Christopher Luscombe, with set and costume designs by Simon Higlett, lighting design by Mark Jonathan, music by Nigel Hess, sound design by Jeremy Dunn, fight direction by Malcolm Ranson and casting by Sarah Bird.
Private Lives is at Theatre Royal Bath 28 October – 6 November, Richmond Theatre 9 – 13 November, Chichester Festival Theatre 16 – 20 November and Cambridge Arts Theatre 22 – 27 November.
