Private Lives (Donmar Warehouse) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (7)
See it if you want an excellently acted version of a classic. Still funny, but a little bit serious and shouty in places. Beautiful staging as ever.
Don't see it if you don’t like old fashioned and quite wordy plays. As much as I love Noël Coward, his work hasn’t necessarily aged brilliantly.
See it if You’d appreciated both the strong performances and the frank way in which the toxicity of this relationship is laid bare.
Don't see it if you’re triggered by domestic violence or just don’t want to watch it play out onstage.
See it if you're in the mood for a clever comedy about love and relationships and want to see some good acting (also a good show for a date).
Don't see it if poking fun at abandoning spouses for a spur-of-the-moment seemingly better person (and/or some domestic violence) isn't for you. Read more
See it if you are looking for a fun time at the theatre.
Don't see it if you aren't a big comedy fan.
See it if You like plays with funny - typical British - scripts.
Don't see it if You are expecting great acting. Read more
See it if Interesting 21st century version of this classic play. Not wholly successful but a worthwhile attempt.
Don't see it if You just want frothy Coward comedy.
See it if You love a good dark comedy with a deeper message
Don't see it if You’re sensitive to domestic abuse
Critic Reviews (14)
“This show was clearly planned as a crowd-pleaser, a reappraisal of a classic and a star vehicle, but it doesn’t fully satisfy on any of those counts.”
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"Longhurst’s production isn’t revisionist. But it strips away the protective barrier of everything being one big joke; it injects naturalism to this most stylised of comedies, and in doing so makes it much bleaker."
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“Stephen Mangan and Rachael Stirling lead a revival that features not the usual harmless lovers' ding-dong but distressing domestic violence.”
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“It is drama of such knife-edge ferocity that it’s impossible to turn away. You want to cry, even as you are laughing.”
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"Some will complain (and have) that the result negates the comedy coursing through this time-honored text; I would argue that the laughs are still there, tempered in this instance by an awareness of the lacerations oftentimes inflicted by love."
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“...it swings the pendulum wildly in the other direction — yielding interesting results, but trampling over much of the play’s pleasures in the process.”
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“...Rachael Stirling and Stephen Mangan as Coward’s fatefully reunited divorcees, puts its pain more firmly centre stage than usual. The results are mixed, and lower on laughs than you expect. And yet it’s an interesting evening.”
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“The results are peculiar, frustrating, surprising, not as funny as you’d like them to be . . . but always interesting.”
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