{"id":61594,"date":"2019-07-24T15:02:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T19:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=61594"},"modified":"2019-07-24T15:02:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T19:02:43","slug":"scrutiny-stratford-festivals-private-lives-is-fun-with-a-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/07\/24\/scrutiny-stratford-festivals-private-lives-is-fun-with-a-bite\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Stratford Festival’s ‘Private Lives’ Is Fun With A Bite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Private
Lucy Peacock, Geraint Wyn Davies. Private Lives. (Photo: David Cooper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stratford Festival 2019\/Private Lives by No\u00ebl Coward, directed by Carey Perloff, Avon Theatre, May 30 to Oct. 26. Tickets available at stratfordfestival.ca<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

One of my great theatrical pleasures is watching a production that makes me see a play that I know well, with fresh eyes. Such is director Carey Perloff\u2019s treatment of Private Lives<\/em> (1930) by No\u00ebl Coward at the Stratford Festival. Perloff and her actors give substance to both the play and its author.<\/p>\n

I have always enjoyed Coward\u2019s comedies of manners for their sophisticated wit and on-the-edge morality. A coy naughtiness, encased in champagne bubbles, dominates the slender plots. The playwright\u2019s breezy, brittle dialogue seems to skip along the surface, rarely if ever, venturing into dark waters. In this production of Private Lives, <\/em>however, Perloff presents troubled people in grave crisis, but most importantly, without losing any of Coward\u2019s bitchy humour. Private Lives <\/em>is still confection, but with a bite.<\/p>\n

The action, such as it is, can be summed up in a few sentences. Amanda Prynne (Lucy Peacock) and Elyot Chase (Geraint Wyn Davies) were divorced five years ago. Each has now married someone else, Victor Prynne (Mike Shara) and Sibyl Chase (Sophia Walker), respectively. Both couples are spending their honeymoons in a swanky Deauville hotel, in adjoining rooms with adjoining balconies. Amanda and Elyot run away to Amanda\u2019s flat in Paris when they discover that they are still in love, despite their penchant for personality conflict, leaving Victor and Sibyl to chase after them. A fifth character is Amanda\u2019s always angry Paris maid Louise (Sarah Dodd) who is always good for a laugh or two.<\/p>\n

Peacock can be credited with Private Lives\u2019 <\/em>newfound gravitas. Although she can toss off Coward\u2019s sardonic badinage with the best, she also invests real emotions into his words. Rather than spouting Coward\u2019s clever wordplay only for laughs, which is custom, Peacock treats the arch language as absolutely real, and from the heart. She\u2019s not the usual Amanda with affectations, but one who talks common sense about hers and Elyot\u2019s precarious relationship. She\u2019s capable of philosophical concepts. Right from the start, Peacock\u2019s Amanda shows her inner tension, and we understand instantly that she married Victor for his conventional lifestyle. Victor represents safety as opposed to Elyot\u2019s danger. Peacock is brilliant in presenting an Amanda who has an unusually heavy presence on stage both in words and deeds.<\/p>\n

\"Private
From left: Geraint Wyn Davies as Elyot Chase, Mike Shara as Victor Prynne, Sophia Walker as Sibyl Chase and Lucy Peacock as Amanda Prynne in Private Lives. (Photo: David Hou)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shara gives the best interpretation of Victor Prynne, ever. He is not a mere one dimensional, pompous Dudley Do-Right. Instead, he presents a man of reason who is trying to find a solution to a very real problem, always retaining his sense of honour, while trying to maintain the dignity of all concerned. Certainly, he is angry, but he also shows strength of character. In his dialogue with the three other characters, he never backs down, no matter what insults they hurl at him. Shara shows a Victor who is not the usual cypher. He has a real presence on stage, and in fact, seems to drive the action of the second act Paris scene. Simply put, Shara\u2019s Victor is a revelation. He has become a major player.<\/p>\n

There are problems with the other characters, though they don\u2019t distract from Perloff\u2019s overall intention of giving substance to the play. While the director has grasped the nub of the issue as witnessed by the performances of Peacock and Shara, she hasn\u2019t succeeded in elevating Elyot and Sibyl out of caricature and stereotype. Both need to be deeper portrayals, particularly Walker\u2019s Sibyl, to even out the playing field.<\/p>\n

Davies can\u2019t seem to decide if Elyot is a narcissistic brat who is the king of the bon mot, or a man capable of saying something meaningful. In Elyot\u2019s truthful, self-reflective moments, Davies shows us the character\u2019s true soul, but then his Elyot breaks away and suddenly reverts to fun and games and mannered delivery. To give credit where credit is due, one of the strengths of Davies\u2019 Elyot, is revealing his very nasty side which is usually glossed over for laughs. In Davies, we see actual venom, which is a good thing, as is his charming turn at the piano singing Coward songs with Peacock. Nonetheless, if only Perloff and Davies had rounded off both sides of Elyot\u2019s character. At this point, Davies performs a split personality, which gives his acting a jagged quality.<\/p>\n

\"Private
Geraint Wyn Davies as Elyot Chase and Sophia Walker as Sybil Chase in Private Lives. (Photo: David Hou)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The usually reliable Walker rarely rises beyond a one dimensional Sibyl. She is a whiney bitch, period. Yet, as in Davies\u2019 performance, there are hints of something deeper. Elyot married a \u201cfeminine creature\u201d, looking for frilly softness after having dealt with Amanda\u2019s cuts and jabs for three years. Sibyl, it turns out, has the potential to be a harridan who always wants her own way. What we needed here is less weeping and wailing and more calmly directed daggers. The great what-ifs of this production are what would Private Lives <\/em>be like with Elyot and Sibyl demonstrating the same level of realism as Amanda and Victor?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure about Ken MacDonald\u2019s set, which Perloff describes in her notes as a \u201cpaper cut-out fantasy world\u201d. I just saw odd shapes. Having a fantasy set seems counterproductive to Perloff\u2019s quest for subtext and meaning. I also found Christina Poddubiuk\u2019s period costumes more dowdy than glamorous. I prefer the latter when it comes to Coward. Kimberly Purtell\u2019s lighting attempts to capture the fantasy of the set through different colour schemes, but it seems redundant.<\/p>\n

Director Perloff and her cast have given us a new look at Coward, but one that doesn\u2019t go far enough. We must, however, be thankful for showing us a Coward capable of more profound concerns underpinning a newly discovered world of disenchantment.<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Director Perloff and her cast have given us a new look at No\u00ebl Coward’s Private Lives, but one that doesn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":61598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,52,59,62],"tags":[6320,30308,3149],"yst_prominent_words":[17821,30326,30325,30301,30298,30310,25412,25411,30322,10682,21423,16792,21268,30297,30296,21776,30300,25413,30324,30323],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/Stratford-Festival-2019-Private-Lives.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-g1s","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61594"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61619,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61594\/revisions\/61619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61594"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=61594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}