Passion at the fore in ACT’s “Private Lives”
SOMEDAY I'LL FIND YOU: Hugo E Carbajal is Victor and Sarita Ocón is Amanda in Noël Coward’s Private Lives, at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater hrough October 6. Photo by Kevin Berne
Part of the joke of Noël Coward’s Private Lives, which he wrote as star vehicle for himself and his dearest friend, Gertrude Lawrence in 1930, was that it upended the stereotype of uptight, passionless Brits. The “intimate comedy in three acts,” as Coward described it, revealed British folk – at least the two played by Noël and Gertie – to have deep, even violent currents of passion too often shored up by their prim, proper and posh exteriors and stiff-upper-lip attitudes.
In a way, Coward was making fun of his image as a cocktail-swilling aesthete forever in a smoking jacket by ripping all of that away to reveal lust, abandon, fire and even a hint of soul-churning love.
Whether played by its original stars or by the hundreds of actors who have followed them across the last nine decades, Amand and Elyot, the central lovers of Private Lives, have beguiled audiences around the world. There’s something primal beneath the sophisticated comedy that people find more than funny.
MAD ABOUT THE BOY: Brady Morales-Woolery is Victor and Gianna DiGregorio Rivera is Sibyl in ACT’s Private Lives. Photo by Kevin Berne
American Conservatory Theater opens its new season with a somewhat reimagined Private Lives from director KJ Sanchez. Rather than having honeymooning Brits abroad in a French resort and then a Parisian apartment, Sanchez locates the action in 1930s Argentina. The new approach maintains the elegance in terms of set (by Tanya Orellana) and costumes (by Jessie Amoroso) and allows a welcome infusion of glorious tango music and dance.
It’s hard to imagine the veddy veddy British Private Lives without British accents, but Sanchez’s cast does away with any regional accent at all. The actors just speak the way they speak, which amply demonstrates that Coward can be funny outside his native milieu.
Act 1 is understandably famous for its set up: two neighboring hotel room balconies reveal that each is host to a honeymooning couple. Elyot (Hugo E Carbajal) and Sibyl (Gianna DiGregorio Rivera) are on one side, while Amanda (Sarita Ocón) and Victor (Brady Morales-Woolery) are on the other. The catch is that Elyot and Amanda are each on the rebound from their divorce five years earlier. “Chance rules my life,” Amanda says. “Everything that happens is chance.”
With the hotel orchestra playing in the distance, Elyot and Amanda soon discover one another and their fussy new spouses are dispatched to other parts of the hotel so they can try – and fail – to resist one another. The hotel balconies are a literal cage, and they feel compelled to break free.
A MARVELOUS PARTY: The cast of ACT's Private Lives (from left) includes Sarita Ocón, Hugo E Carbajal, Gianna DiGregorio Rivera and Brady Morales-Woolery. Photo by Kevin Berne
Act 2 finds the Amanda and Elyot (still newlyweds but not wed to each other) hiding out in Amanda’s Montevideo apartment and reveling in their forbidden reunion. Clad in their pajamas and dancing a fierce tango (showing off the zippy work of tango instructor Lisette Perelle), this fated duo revisits everything that fuels their passion as well as everything that turns that passion into a living nightmare. In one of the play’s most effective gimmicks, they come up with a safe word, “Solomon Isaacs,” (later shortened to a hilarious “sollocks”) that effectively puts them into timeout and gives their raging egos a chance to calm down (and gives their love a chance to have a chance).
This re-coupling is a triumph and a disaster, a wrecking ball and a sonata. Of course the new spouses show up to complicate the runaways’ consciences, but there’s never any doubt how this turbulent love story will end.
Sanchez’s delightful cast appears to be having a ball with Coward’s cozy quartet (the role of the maid has been excised – and speaking of quartets, wouldn’t it be fun to do this play in repertory with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?).
There’s palpable chemistry between Carbajal’s Elyot and Rivera’s Sibyl, especially when they’re being physical through dance or song or the smooching arts. Rivera is especially deft with Coward’s language, giving it a distinct crackle all her own. Carbajal is a wonderfully robust clown, especially when he turns a garment on a rack into a phantom lover for Amanda’s (and our) entertainment.
The goofing and the dancing and the singing help endear us to Elyot, who is a bit of a beast – charming to be sure, but volatile. Amanda is also tempestuous, but seemingly more sensible. One does wonder why Amanda is so deeply attracted to Elyot, but director Sanchez and her actors make it easy enough to accept that some attraction can’t be fully explained, only experienced.
One of the utlimate delights of Private Lives, and it’s on full display in this sturdy production, is that Coward somehow managed to create (supposedly in only four days!) a comedy of manners with absolutely no manners at all.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Noël Coward’s Private Lives continues through Oct. 6 at American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theater. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes (including intermission). Tickets are $25-$130 (subject to change). Call 415-749-2228 or visit act-sf.org.
