Preview of Private Lives, the Oxford Shakespeare Company, the Walled Garden, Wadham College (From The Oxford Times)

Preview of Private Lives, the Oxford Shakespeare Company, the Walled Garden, Wadham College

3:22pm Wednesday 21st July 2010 in

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The Oxford Shakespeare Company’s much-praised production of The Tempest is joined in the gardens of Wadham College from Sunday until August 20 by its second offering of the 2010 season, Noël Coward’s razor-sharp comedy of manners, Private Lives. Nicholas Green, co-founder of the OSC, directs this witty and gripping play.

When Amanda and Elyot discover that they are in adjoining hotel suites with their new spouses, five years after they divorced, the honeymoon from hell seems likely to follow. And when they find themselves falling for one another again, in many ways it does. Pursued to their Parisian love nest, the runaway lovers have to confront the painful truth that perhaps they deserve each other after all.

Coward wrote Private Lives in 1929, at the height of his powers as a writer and the script is one of the most perfectly constructed in the canon, packed with brittle, crackling dialogue. This production conjures up the 1930s world with highly styled period costumes, set against the glorious summer backdrop of the walled garden of Wadham. The company showcase their versatility in performing in this contrasting but complementary comedy in rep with The Tempest, with Rodney Matthew (Stephano/Antonio in The Tempest) taking the role of Elyot, Christopher Jordan (Sebastian/Trinculo) as Victor and Sophie Franklin (Miranda) as Sybil. They are joined by Pandora Clifford as Amanda. Other members of the company will be forming an onstage band performing musical arrangements by Jamie Reid.