Can’t live with ’em. Can’t live without ’em. And in Private Lives — the last show of the 2013-2014 season for the Shakespeare Theatre Company — the saying is staged with a little added sauce. This is the finale in a trifecta of audience comedy favorites (don’t forget how much we 
loved Much Ado About Nothing and The Importance of Being Earnest this season!) on stage now at the Lansburgh Theatre.
More than just about schizophrenically falling in and out of love, Noël Coward’s Private Lives is a quick-witted, almost improvisational comedy about two divorcees, Elyot (James Waterston) and Amanda (Bianca Amato), who just happen to meet on adjacent balconies of a charming hotel in France while on honeymoon with their new spouses. Old feelings complicate the situation immediately and manners go completely missing.
Of course in the time the play was written, respectability was paramount — but this irreverence for societal rules is jarring even for audiences today. Likewise, the ease with which the characters speak of consummating, and enjoying, love. It’s a period drama that shocks with spontaneity and is boastful about breaking all of the rules.
The dialogue volley is enough to recommend attendance, but then add the stunning set, the suspenseful conclusion and the general mirth of the rather disdainfully delightful performance. You’ll sigh, you’ll shudder, you’ll cringe, and above all, you’ll laugh at these Private Lives.
Private Lives runs through July 13, 2014 at 450 7th Street NW.
*All images credit Scott Suchma
