West Bay Community Theater to Present Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES

West Bay Community Theater will present Noel Coward's classic comedy of manners, PRIVATE LIVES, June 29th and 30th (8pm) and Saturday, July 1st (2pm) at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston, RI.

West Bay Community Theater's (WBCT) first production of 2023 continues the tradition of visiting different Rhode Island playhouses while its home in Wickford is under construction. This time around, WBCT is partnering with the Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston to present PRIVATE LIVES, a curio of a bygone day that explores the juxtaposition of romantic entanglements and devil-may-care globetrotting in a world surging toward peril. Set in 1930, against a backdrop of global Depression and looming world war, two couples with relative affluence and privilege are locked in a quagmire of desperation, passion, and existential crisis. Noel Coward's trademark deadpan wit informs what is, at its heart, a struggle for understanding among people whose tragic lives behind closed doors betray their outer privilege.

Revived in 2002 by the Royal National Theatre in a production that sparkled on Broadway, PRIVATE LIVES is one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, meet by chance, reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear and a roundelay of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then apart, and new partnerships are formed. A uniquely humorous play boasting numerous successful Broadway runs with stars like Coward himself, Alan Rickman, Laurence Olivier, Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Tammy Grimes, Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Director of PRIVATE LIVES, WBCT President Terry Shea, points out that Noel Coward's work may often be construed as "simple period pieces" from a time in theater where we saw "pretty people wearing pretty things in pretty places." PRIVATE LIVES, however, has a darker edge to it that, while still brimming with the usual Noel Coward fast-paced humor, explores topics only still being addressed in modern theater. "While the plot, on its face, looks like a familiar set of ever-revolving alliances, PRIVATE LIVES explores issues of alternative relationships, domestic violence, and a stiff resolve to maintain personal integrity and identity in a world crumbling around them."

The New York Times declared that PRIVATE LIVES is "gorgeous, dazzling, fantastically funny," while The New York Post declares it to be a "gleaming and gleeful comedy."

WBCT is providing their usual round-trip bus ride package for the Saturday, July 1st matinee. One low price of $30 includes a show ticket, a round-trip bus ride from Wickford to the show and back plus a lifetime membership button good for $5 off all future WBCT productions.

For further inquiries and/or to reserve tickets, call (401) 372-7201 or email at: info@wbctheater.org.

Cast:

Elyot: Terry Shea

Amanda: Leslie Racine-Vazquez

Victor: Ronald H. Martin, Jr.

Sybil: Ricci Mann

Louise: Laura Ash

Production Staff:

Director / Sound Design: Terry Shea

Direction Assistance: Karen Besson

Production Stage Manager: Laura Ash

Scenic Designer: Amelia Smith

Costume Designer: Stephanie Traversa

Lighting Designer / Technical Director: Zach Searle

Props and Set Dressing: Margee Wolf/Peggy Dyer/Richard Griffin

Poster Design: Richard Griffin/Amelia Smith

About West Bay Community Theater:

West Bay Community Theater is a North Kingstown-based 501 (c) (3) arts organization founded in 2018 by former members of Academy Players and North Kingstown Players in order to re-establish a community theater in the West Bay region of Rhode Island. Their most recent production was THE VILLAINS RETURN, a Halloween-themed revue, in October, 2022. They will present an In-Concert version of the Kander and Ebb musical, CABARET in August, 2023. A future home base is in the works in the heart of Wickford Village at the site of the Old Library on 55 Brown Street. Visit them at wbctheater.org and also on Facebook and Instagram.