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Private Lives

1 October 2012 | 11:12 am | Dave Drayton

Coward’s writing has wonderful balance; the parallels between relationships and individuals mirrored in a chaos akin to the muck one’s mind is clearly left in by love.

For his directing debut at Belvoir, AD Ralph Myers takes on Noël Coward's 1930 raucous almost-rom com, Private Lives. His set is bare, and rightly so, because the size of the characters, and of the odd exchanges between them – love, lust, outright fury – need space. For all the pomp and whimsy and world travel that is mentioned, this is, at its core, about relationships.

Once again, Toby Truslove excels as the subservient and eager to please man, though unlike his role in Strange Interlude, he is allowed less of a development; rooted here, as the incredibly vanilla Victor, before being allowed one complete outburst. Toby Schmitz as charmer Elyot is laconic and love-weary, at once distant and desperate for removed intimacy, a perfect counter to Truslove. Schmitz debonair debauch is equalled by Zahra Newmann as Amanda, and Eloise Mignon is impressive as the young, naïve wife of Elyot – while Mignon has done young and slightly naïve a fair bit recently, she brings to this role a fresh and impressive acidity.Mish Grigor's French mutterings as an underappreciated maid work for great comedic relief, and she really owns the short role.

Coward's writing has wonderful balance; the parallels between relationships and individuals mirrored in a chaos akin to the muck one's mind is clearly left in by love. It's a modern production under Myers' eye, and doesn't jar, though a cheeky throwback to the era of its writing with the melodrama of some wonderfully soundtracked fight scenes works a treat. Amidst constant quarrells, there's weary hearts, witticisms, and just enough whimsy (if you squint while glancing at the flippancy) to keep you from thinking all hope is lost. Being happy is, after all, hard word, enoying this show isn't.