Nigel Havers and Patricia Hodge star in Noël Coward’s Private Lives at The Lowry in Salford March 15–19.
It’s the inaugural show for The Nigel Havers Theatre Company, with Olivier Award-winning Patricia Hodge as Amanda and Havers as Elyot, the role taken by Coward in the original production in 1930.
Astonishingly, it is the first time Havers has appeared in a Coward play on stage. The cast is completed by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart as Victor, Natalie Walter as Sibyl and Aïcha Kossoko as Louise.
Elyot and Amanda, who were once married, find themselves in adjoining rooms in the same hotel on the French coast, both on honeymoon with their new partners. Initial horror quickly evaporates and soon they’re sharing cocktails and a romantic serenade.