This one will no doubt be familiar to many theatre-goers, but Noël Coward revivals are more intermittent than I would like. Private Lives is his esteemed comedy of manners concerning a pair of divorcees who happen to run into each other on their second honeymoons. The play is one of his most polished pieces in terms of its venomous repartee and acutely risqué wit.

The key to any Coward play is timing. Lines come thick and fast but must be delivered with precision. This is the foundation on which any production rests and, thank heavens, the cast are up to the task. The audience at large, myself included, were thoroughly engaged. The laughter and final applause were well-earned. Perhaps the staging was a bit flat in the first act, but this seems a minor quibble given the virtues of the piece.

Private Lives remains a very progressive play in context. So much of its repartee is about skewering sexual double-standards and the dishonest pretence that marriage can be founded on. Coward was determined to show that women could give as good as they got and arguably then some. The best part of the play is always Amanda, every bit as licentious and amoral as her counterpart Eliot and one of Cowards best creations. Though the cast is strong across the board, it is Helen Keeley who really gets to shine in this role.

Some might find the play a touch dated by a slightly callous and indifferent view to striking women. Personally, I think this staging does a good job of not altering the content but still inviting criticism of practices in the period. If anything, the most jarring element to a modern audience is that the initial newlyweds clearly don’t know each other: each marrying a few months after meeting. The idea seem quaint and nonsensical now but such period detail does nothing to limit caustic humour on display here.   ★★★★☆   Fenton Coulthurst   24^th January 2018