Performances 28 April-3 May 2025 in the Auditorium

Directed by Colin Treliving

There are 5 excellent acting parts in this show. Giving great opportunities for comedy acting. Forget the script’s definition of ages. All the characters can be any age between 30 years old and 60 years old.

Characters.

Sibyl Chase; Charming, well mannered lady. Madly in love with Elyot. At first slightly naive. In the 3rd act shows her metal by losing her temper with Victor

Elyot Chase: Debonair, man about town. Sophisticated, charming, completely unreliable. Continually falling in and out of love with Amanda. This part Coward wrote for himself.

Victor Prynne: A down to earth man. Rather conventional ideas. Very reliable. In love with Amanda.

Amanda Prynne: Commanding, elegant, and sophisticated. Comepletely unreliable, changes her mind frequently but still is adorable. Dominates most of the scenes she is in.

Louise: The maid, fed up with Amanda and Elyot’s untidiness. Bubbly French girl. Super cameo role. All dialogue in French.

Audition pieces are as follows.

Sibyl and Elyot Act 1

From Page 1 Sibyl "Elli dear do come out .It’s so lovely"------ to-- page 3, Elyot "I never got underneath"

Amanda and Victor Act I

From page 9 Victor "You look wonderful." ----to-- page 11, Victor "Your skin is so beautiful"

Sibyl and Victor Act 3

From Sibyl page 95 "I don’t go about losing luggage" -----to --Sibyl, page 97--- "Stop it, stop it. You insufferable great brute"

Amanda and Elyot Act 2

From Amanda page 49 "What if we never happened to meet"—to—Amanda page 51"This is far too perfect"

Louise Act 3 (Must speak French)

From Page 68 "Merde!"---To – Louise Page 69 "Cest neuf heures moins dix, madam."

Plot

Set in the 1930s

Act 1. On the terrace of a hotel in a seaside resort in France. The plot is very simple; the play relies on first class acting to make it witty. Sibyl and Elyot are on the first night of their s honeymoon on the south of France. Amanda and Victor are also on the first night of their honeymoon in the next hotel room to Sibyl and Elyot, However Amanda and Elyot have been married and divorced from each other some years before. They meet up and a very funny and awkward situation arrives, the outcome is Amanda and Elyot still seem to love each other and decide to run away together that night to Paris, without telling Victor or Sibyl. Leaving Victor and  Sibyl confused and alone...

Act 2 in Amanda’s flat in Paris a few days later. Amanda and Elyot are spending a relaxing evening in the flat. The conversation goes from passionate words of love to complete arguments. This builds to a furious physical argument, when into the flat come Victor and Sibyl unexpectedly. Amanda and Elyot disappear leaving Victor and Sibyl alone in the flat.

Act 3 The same, next morning Victor and Sibyl are asleep on two different sofas. The maid Louise arrives, she wakes the up and tries to tidy the flat. Amanda and Elyot appear from their respective rooms. The whole scene is fraught with arguments, and witty lines. Eventually Sibyl finds Victor tedious and tells him so; an argument breaks out between them, exactly like Amanda’s and Elyot’s. As the tension grows Amanda and Elyot creep away out of the flat leaving Victor and Sibyl shouting at each other!

Scripts

Page numbers are for people with book scripts. A copy of the script is behind the box office, for you to photo audition pieces. Please do NOT take the script away from the theatre and after use replace behind box office.

The whole script of the play is available on line and can be downloaded. Just type in “Private Lives” by Noel Coward and a few options will appear. The viewing is free for 30 days. There is also a lot of background information to the play on line

Rehearsals are mainly Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings, with a couple of possible Sundays

If you would like to audition and cannot make the 21st of Jan, please contact me and we can work out an alternative date.