'Private Lives' at The Vaudeville Theatre

This evening we went to see 'Private Lives' at the Vaudeville Theatre on The Strand. A technical problem on stage meant we were a bit late getting in but, once we took our seats I could breathe a sigh of relief at the sheer luxurious leg-room in the seats - luxurious compared to Broadway theatres in any case. Plus a bar and ice-cream at half-time - sheer decadence!

Anyway, the play. 'Private Lives' is, of course, by Noel Coward and the leading man suffers slightly from having to be Coward-ish in his delivery since some of the lines, particularly the one-liner repartee, is pure Coward. It's the tale of two divorcees who were previously married and who are in adjoining rooms in a French coastal hotel with their respective new spouses, who decide they love each other really and run off (or, in the parlance of the play, "orf") to Paris together, leaving their new spouses alone and none the wiser. The tale continues in Paris with the inevitable consequences.

After about 15 minutes I lost all my critical faculties and, surprising myself, decided I loved it. A clever and witty script that was dated in places but every now and then threw something at the audience that seemed incredibly original and current. The simple set for the first half of the play was the hotel balcony which I found rather annoying a few times since there wasn't enough space for the cast to move without brushing past the net curtains which I found rather distracting. I much preferred the Parisian flat of the second act with the odd shaped giant goldfish bowl and luxurious couches.

It's the cast that makes or breaks a play like this and Lisa Dillon and Simon Paisley Day were excellent as the hapless spouses who find themselves deserted by the leading characters. Matthew Macfadyen has the task of trying to 'be' the Coward character and he did this with ease most of the time but occasionally fell into the trap of seeming to do an impersonation. He's only being doing the play for a week or so, so I'm sure he'll get the right balance. The star of the show (in many senses) is, of course, Kim Cattrall who was excellent. A flighty madam of shifting morality who seems to love everyone but not quite as much as she loves herself, she was compelling and totally believable as Amanda, with the right mix of vulnerability and challenge as a modern woman (for the '30s). There was some nice chemistry between Kim and Matthew that made me wonder whether their relative real-life partners had already seen them together and given their approval. Kim commanded the stage with her acting, not with her star gloss.

I had a grin on my face for most of the play and that can only be a good thing. Go and see it - book tickets now to avoid disappointment.