NS Archive 2025: Private Lives

About the Show
Meet the Director
Cast
Creative Team
Gallery

An Octagon Theatre Bolton, Mercury Theatre & Rose Theatre co-production in association with Northern Stage, supported by a grant from The Royal Theatrical Support Trust

Love and chaos collide in Noël Coward’s timeless comedy.

Amanda and Elyot are charming, rich, utterly reckless – and divorced. When they meet unexpectedly on the first night of their honeymoons with new partners, in the balmy moonlight of 1930s France, old flames re-ignite, and impulsive love takes hold. But they divorced for a reason, and their fiery romance soon spirals into a chaotic riot of passionate desire, slanging matches and outrageous battles.

Set against a backdrop of 1930s glamour, Noël Coward’s Private Lives is a sparkling comedy of manners – hilarious, stylish, and a rollercoaster of emotions, filled with razor-sharp wit, sizzling chemistry, and timeless sophistication.

British Sign Language interpretation by Caroline Ryan
Captioned by Philip Armstrong
Audio Description by Michael Davies

Meet the Director

I am super thrilled that Private Lives is coming to Northern Stage. I grew up in Durham, and Newcastle Playhouse (as it was then) was where I first ever saw a theatre show. I never imagined, as that 12-year old, that someone like me could have a career in theatre – but that early experience obviously sparked a real fire in me, because here I am! And in winning the 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award, I am so proud to be sharing this production with where it all started for me. Noel Coward’s Private Lives is a fabulous play – funny, sexy, shocking – and full of bittersweet truths about the complex difficulties of relationships. When I first read it, I was amazed at how modern these characters felt; and that’s what I want to share with audiences – a show that combines the glamour and screwball comedy thrill of the 1930s with an energy that speaks straight to 2025. – Tanuja Amarasuriya.