LONDON CLASSIC THEATRE ANNOUNCE EXTENSION OF THEIR UK TOUR OF
NOËL COWARD’S PRIVATE LIVES
London Classic Theatre presents
Private Lives
By Noël Coward
Directed by Michael Cabot; Designed by Frankie Bradshaw; Lighting by Andy Grange
UK & Ireland tour: 16 January – 21 April 2018
Press performance: Wednesday 17 January 2018 at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
London Classic Theatre today announce additional dates for their production of Noël Coward’s comedy masterpiece, Private Lives. Olivia Beardsley and Helen Keeley return to the production as Sibyl Chase and Amanda Prynne, and are joined by two new cast members, Gareth Bennett-Ryan (Elyot Chase) and Paul Sandys (Victor Prynne). The production tours to 16 venues in the new year, opening at Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford on 16 January, and concluding the run at the Coventry Belgrade Theatre on 21 April.
1930. Deauville, France. Two newly-married couples occupy adjoining honeymoon suites in the same hotel. As a distant orchestra plays, Sibyl gazes adoringly at charismatic husband Elyot, while Victor admires his new wife, the vivacious and sophisticated Amanda.
Champagne flows and the sea shimmers in the moonlight as the newlyweds prepare for the evening ahead. But when Amanda overhears a familiar voice singing a forgotten song, an old spark reignites, with spectacular consequences.
Full of razor-sharp wit and quick-fire dialogue, Private Lives is Noël Coward’s most popular and enduring stage comedy. Extraordinarily written in only three days, Private Lives opened at London’s Phoenix Theatre in August 1930 to packed houses. Since then, this charming comedy of manners has retained its remarkable appeal, captivating audiences all over the world.
Noël Coward was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. His most notable plays include Hay Fever, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit.
Helen Keeley plays Amanda Prynne. She returns to London Classic Theatre having previously appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits include The Picture of Dorian Gray (Trafalgar Studios & UK tour), YapYapYap (Battersea Arts Centre), Half, To The End (Southwark Playhouse), and A Summer Day’s Dream(Finborough Theatre). For film, she has starred in Where To Now.
Gareth Bennett-Ryan plays Elyot Chase. He returns to London Classic Theatre after appearing in The Birthday Party. Other recent theatre credits include The History Boys, Macbeth (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), As You Like It, Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra (Cambridge Shakespeare Festival), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar (Principal Theatre Co), Dick Whittington, Mother Goose (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds) and Sons of Bond (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Television credits include Shakespeare Uncovered and Word on the Street, and for film; Woodfalls, Mercenaries, Arthur & Merlin, Wounded and Dead Unicorns.
Olivia Beardsley plays Sibyl Chase. She returns to London Classic Theatre having previously appeared in its UK tour of The Collector. Other theatre credits include Brimstone and Treacle (Hope Theatre), Secret Santa (Arts Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Centennial Park Open Air Theatre, Sydney), and Charcoal Creek(Merrigong Theatre Company). For film credits include The Babadook.
Paul Sandys plays Victor Prynne. He returns to London Classic Theatre after appearing in Entertaining Mr Sloane and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits include Dr Longitude’s Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie (Les Enfants Terribles), Peter Pan (New Vic Theatre), Out of the Sun (The New Actors Company). For television, Apple Tree House and for film; The Sprint King.
Rachael Holmes-Brown plays Louise. She returns to London Classic Theatre after appearing in Hysteria. Other theatre includes Dick Whittington Meets Top Cat, A Christmas to Remember (UK tours), My Fair Lady, Still Life, The Sound of Music (Riverside Australia) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Courtyard Theatre). For television her credits include Close Your Eyes; and for film, Birthday, Wrecks and Iki Nefes Arasinda.
Michael Cabot is the founder and Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre. He has directed all thirty-six LCT productions since their debut in 1993 including Hysteria, The Birthday Party, Waiting for Godot, Absent Friends, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Betrayal, The Importance of Being Earnest, Equus and After Miss Julie. He has overseen the company’s transition from one of the success stories of the London Fringe in the late nineties to its current position as one of the UK’s leading touring companies. His freelance work as director includes three recent collaborations with playwright Henry Naylor, The Collector (national tour 2016) Angel (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, Adelaide Fringe, Brits off Broadway 2017) and Borders (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017). All three productions won Scotsman Fringe First Awards. Angel was chosen by The Times as one of the UK’s Top Ten productions in 2016 and also recently completed a 4-week run at the Arcola Theatre, where Michael was nominated for Best Director in the 2017 Off West End Awards.
London Classic Theatre was launched in 2000 as a touring theatre company with David Mamet’s Oleanna. This inaugural tour lost a small fortune but doors had opened and, crucially, the work was being seen. Seventeen years and thirty-seven tours later, London Classic Theatre is now a successful, established part of the commercial UK touring theatre scene. The company has never received any funding or sponsorship for its work. As Artistic Director, Michael Cabot has programmed a repertoire of classic and modern classic plays, a mixture of the challenging and the commercial, big titles and less well-known, including two UK premières – Hugh Leonard’s Love in the Title and Joanna Murray-Smith’s Nightfall.
London Classic Theatre – in numbers…
- 37 tours since 2000
- 30 productions
- 255 venues visited
- 465 weeks of touring
- 350,000 miles covered
- Over 2,500 performances
- Over 500,000 tickets sold
- 158 actors
- 19 designers
- 2 UK premières
- 4 Harold Pinter plays
- 2 Patrick Marber plays
- 2 Marivaux plays in new translation
- Longest tour Equus – 35 weeks and 198 performances
- Shortest tour The Game of Love and Chance – 5 weeks and 22 performances
- £0 public subsidy
www.londonclassictheatre.co.uk
Facebook: @LondonClassicTheatre
Twitter: @londonclassic1
Listings Private Lives
Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford
16-20 January
Box Office: 01483 440000
www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk
Cheltenham Everyman Theatre
23-27 January
Box Office: 01242 572573
www.everymantheatre.org.uk
Derby Theatre
30 Jan – 3 Feb
Box Office: 01332 593939
www.derbytheatre.co.uk
Dukes, Lancaster
6, 7 February
Box Office: 01524 598500
www.dukes-lancaster.org
Cast, Doncaster
8-10 February
Box Office: 01302 303959
www.castindoncaster.com
The Brunton, Musselburgh
13-14 February
Box Office: 0131 665 2240
www.thebrunton.co.uk
Gaiety Theatre, Ayr
15-17 February
Box Office: 01292 288235
www.thegaiety.co.uk/
Mumford Theatre, Cambridge
27-28 February
Box Office: 01223 352932
www.anglia.ac.uk/arts-law-and-social-sciences/mumford-theatre/how-to-book
South Hill Park, Bracknell
1-3 March
Box Office: 01344 484123
www.southhillpark.org.uk
Connaught Theatre, Worthing
6-7 March
Box Office: 01903 206206
www.worthingtheatres.co.uk
Lighthouse, Poole
8-10 March
Box Office: 01202 280000
www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
Theatr Clwyd
20-24 March
Box Office: 01352 701521
www.theatrclwyd.com/en/
Everyman Theatre, Cork
3-7 April
Box Office: 00 353 21 450 1673
www.everymancork.com
Hull Truck Theatre
10-14 April
Box Office: 01482 323638
www.hulltruck.co.uk
Lyceum Theatre, Crewe
17-18 April
Box Office: 01270 368242
www.crewelyceum.co.uk/Online/
Coventry Belgrade Theatre
19-21 April
Box Office: 024 7655 3055
www.belgrade.co.uk