Private Lives

A 1930 comedy of manners by Noël Coward [1]. An immensely popular musical comedy originally written for Gertrude Lawrence, and produced in 1930 with Coward and Laurence Olivier. It was Coward's most enduringly successful work and is generally regarded as the high point of his career both commercially and artistically.

Performance history in South Africa

19**: Margaret Inglis and Robert Langford the play in 19**, starring Robert himself and Shelagh Holliday.

1947: Presented by the Brian Brooke Company in Muizenberg, Rondebosch, Paarl starring Cynthia Kettle and Bob Courtney (as Victor, later replaced by Brian Brooke), directed by Petrina Fry. The season ended at the Hofmeyr Hall.

1953: Directed by Minna Millsten for Johannesburg Reps starring Marjorie Gordon.

1968: Presented by NAPAC Drama, directed by Frank Shelley, July.

1968: Opened at the Durban Jewish Club on 2 July, directed by Frank Shelley, for NAPAC. Cast Erica Rogers, later replaced by Valerie Miller, Danvers Walker, Moira Waldron, and Ian Hamilton.

1969: Jane Osborne as Amanda Prynne and Arthur Clarke as Elyot Chase produced by Ann Botha for the GADS.

1974: Presented by Pieter Toerien and Shirley Firth at The Intimate Theatre, Johannesburg, directed by John Fernald.

1978: Directed by Peter Curtis for CAPAB in 1978. Settings by Peter Krummeck, costumes Jennifer Craig, lighting John T. Baker. The cast included Helen Bourne, John Whiteley, Mary Dreyer, Liz Dick and Peter Cartwright.

1988: In 1988 the play was presented by Pieter Toerien, opening 18 March in the Leonard Rayne Theatre, starring Sandra Duncan, Philip Godawa, Vanessa Cooke, Neville Thomas and Eleni Cousins, directed by Robert Whitehead. presented by NAPAC Drama and Pieter Toerien at the Hexagon Theatre, Pietermaritzburg, and the Loft, Natal Playhouse, directed by Robert Whitehead, from 26 July 1988.

2002: Presented by KickstArt at the Kwasuka Theatre, directed by Greg King, from 26 September.

2002: Staged by Pieter Toerien Productions at the Grahamstown Festival in 2002, directed by Maralin Vanrenen, with Suanne Braun, Warren Kimmel, Alexandra Bairnsfather Cloete, James van Helsdingen and Elise van Niekerk. Sets by Keith Anderson, costumes by Bronwyn Lovegrove and Margo Fleisch, lighting by Jannie Swanepoel. The same production was presented at the Montecasino Theatre in July 2002 and subsequently at Theatre on the Bay.

Sources

Grütter, Wilhelm, CAPAB 25 Years, 1987. Unpublished research. p 90.

Teater SA, 1(1), 1968.

NELM: [Collection: Rhodes University. Drama Department]: 2006. 6. 5. 19.

Brooke 1978. 164-5.

Private Lives theatre programmes, 1978, 2002.

See How They Run theatre programme, 1988.

Tucker, 1997.

EP Herald, 5 July 2002.

The Star, 22 July 2002.

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