For this reason, smart productions keep the action firmly rooted in its original era. And the Santa Cruz Shakespeare adaptation of Private Lives, that premiered Saturday night, is a very smart production. From the gorgeous Art Deco interiors of Thomas Bigley's scenic design to the super luxe gowns, dinner jackets, pajamas, and traveling outfits of costume designer Austin Blake Conlee, to the vintage music curated by sound designer Luke Shepherd, this delectable bon-bon of a production is shaped by canny director Laura Gordon as a tribute to its original era. But she never loses sight of how some of the more complex issues raised might land on modern sensibilities.
Beautifully acted by a cast of SCS stalwarts, the play adheres to Coward's signature style of ferociously witty and elegant people lobbing acerbic bon mots at each other over cocktails and cigarettes. (Continuous smoking might be one of those things that distance a modern audience, as much of the action hinges on the lighting, sharing, snuffing out, and general handling of cigarettes.)
Dewy young newlywed, Sybil (Charlotte Boyce Munson), is on the first night of her honeymoon with dashing, wisecracking Elyot (Charles Pasternak) at a French seaside resort. Sybil keeps trying to prompt the more experienced Elyot to assure her how much of an improvement she is over his first wife, Amanda, a volatile union that ended in divorce. He promises her that all he wants now is "love without drama."
The two suites share a balcony, and as soon as Elyot and Amanda clamp eyes on each other, the best-laid plans of both couples, er, go up in smoke. As Elyot and Amanda both try, and fail, to spirit their new spouses away before calamity strikes, old wounds are clawed open, and old rages rekindled — along with old passions. Victor sees a side of Amanda that makes him "afraid," while Amanda and Elyot declare "To Hell with love!" on the brink of reconnecting.
White's quicksilver Amanda is the heart of the production, sexy, savvy, and sensitive to the moment, but unwilling to compromise who she is for the comfort of others. (The lower registers of White's voice are especially sly and provocative.) Pasternak's Elyot is bursting with severe wit, sorely tried patience, and expansive bonhomie. His defense of his "flippancy" as opposed to Victor's "bluster," is priceless. Munson's affronted innocence as Sybil, and Cherin's Victor, clinging to his stoic decency ("I'm glad I'm normal!" he exclaims desperately, as madness bubbles up all around him), round out the cast, along with Izzy Pedego, very funny as a deadpan French maid bustling in and out of the action.
The show was considered quite racy in its day for depicting a couple "living in sin," and cheerfully discussing sex and sexuality (although supposedly tempered by the fact that, as previous spouses, they'd already known each other, carnally speaking). There's nothing remotely shocking about it, by today's standards. But when Elyot and Amanda's banter turns waspish, when their petty disagreements and bickering escalate into slugfests, we're a little taken aback. It's only a few resounding slaps, a record broken over a head, and some tussling on the floor. Clearly, it was intended as comedy back in the day, even a kind of foreplay between well-matched opponents, who don't actually want to cause physical harm. But these days, with physical contact (especially between the sexes) such a prickly, hot-button issue, the surprised gasps from the audience suggest how the cultural climate has shifted.
Nevertheless, Private Lives remains buoyantly true to its era, while offering up plenty of timeless insights into love and romance in a fleet and funny production.
The Santa Cruz Shakespeare production of Private Lives plays at the Audrey Stanley Grove at DeLaveaga Park through October 4
