LOVE AND TANTRUMS

Daily Express
12th October 2001

ROBERT GORELANGTON

PRIVATE LIVES Albery Theatre, London WC2, 020 7369 1740, ends Jan 6.

LIKE MANY top British stage actors, Alan Rickman has spent a lot of time being a baddie in Hollywood films. Think of Die Hard and Robin Hood:

Prince Of Thieves - films which he enlivened with his brand of knowing, camp comedy. Now he's back on stage, teaming up with Lindsay Duncan (both made their names in the Eighties in the steamy stage classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses) in Noel Coward's ultra-stylish PRIVATE LIVES. On stage Rickman acts like he's on Valium and on top of that he's beginning to sound - and even look - worryingly like Frankie Howerd.

But that wounded vanity he exudes is actually perfect for the part of Elyot, who can't live with or without his ex-wife Amanda.

The couple find themselves falling in love again when honeymooning in France with their new spouses and, once back in Paris, the marital bickering starts up again. Lindsay Duncan's Amanda is terrific, giving as good as she gets and exuding a tremendous sex appeal between rows. The mood swings from romance to violence are always a comic treat and the stage fight between the pair in the second act is the best stage punch-up since Macbeth. Add to the mix excellent performances from the abandoned spouses - gawky Adam Godley and a frumpy Emma Fielding - and you've got an evening of high style and low punches and a surprising amount of between-the-lines smut.

Tim Hatley's stunning set of vertical hotel balconies gives way to what looks like a tart's boudoir and director Howard Davies keeps us laughing throughout.

 

 

Copyright 2001 Express Newspapers