page_title: Private Lives
section_title: Major revivals (1980s to present)
hierarchical_section_title: Private Lives / Productions / Major revivals (1980s to present)
caption_attribution_description: English: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at Schiphol
context_page_description: Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for each other. Its second act love scene was nearly censored in Britain as too risqué. Coward wrote one of his most popular songs, "Some Day I'll Find You", for the play.
  After touring the British provinces, the play opened the new Phoenix Theatre in London in 1930, starring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Adrianne Allen and Laurence Olivier. A Broadway production followed in 1931, and the play has been revived at least a half dozen times each in the West End and on Broadway. The leading roles have attracted a wide range of actors; among those who have succeeded Coward as Elyot are Robert Stephens, Richard Burton, Alan Rickman and Matthew Macfadyen, and successors to Lawrence as Amanda have included Tallulah Bankhead, Elizabeth Taylor, Elaine Stritch, Maggie Smith, Kim Cattrall, Penelope Keith and Lindsay Duncan.
context_section_description: In 1980, a production from the Greenwich Theatre transferred to the Duchess Theatre in the West End.  It starred Michael Jayston and Maria Aitken, and it was directed by Alan Strachan.  Elizabeth Taylor as Amanda and Richard Burton as Elyot were the headliners in a highly anticipated 1983 Broadway production directed by Milton Katselas, which opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in May 1983 following a pre-Broadway run at the Shubert Theatre in Boston in April 1983. It co-starred John Cullum as Victor and Kathryn Walker as Sibyl and ran for 63 performances. After closing on Broadway, this production toured to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in August and September 1983, the Shubert Theatre, Chicago in September, and the Wilshire Theatre, Los Angeles in October 1983.
  In 1990, a revival at London's Aldwych Theatre, starring Keith Baxter and Joan Collins, directed by Tim Luscombe, was not well received,  although Sara Crowe won an Olivier Award, Actress in a Supporting Role, as Sibyl. Arvin Brown directed Collins as Amanda and Simon Jones as Elyot in a 1992 Broadway production that closed after only 11 previews and 37 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre.  The last West End production of the 20th century was at the National Theatre, running from May to September 1999, with Anton Lesser as Elyot and Juliet Stevenson as Amanda, directed by Philip Franks.
  A 2001 London revival emphasised the harshness and darker side of the play; it starred Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan, directed by Howard Davies at the Albery Theatre (subsequently renamed the Noël Coward Theatre).  Duncan won the Olivier Award for her performance, Tim Hatley won for his set designs, and Jenny Beavan won for costumes.  A Broadway transfer of Davies's West End production, starring Rickman and Duncan, ran for 127 performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2002.  It won the Tony Award for Best Revival, while Duncan won for Leading Actress and Hatley won for sets.  In 2009 at its new home, the Hampstead Theatre presented a revival directed by Lucy Bailey, with Jasper Britton as Elyot and Claire Price as Amanda.
  A 2010 revival at the Vaudeville Theatre in London was directed by Richard Eyre and starred Matthew Macfadyen as Elyot and Kim Cattrall as Amanda. The ten-week limited season ran from February to May 2010.  This production then moved to North America, starring Cattrall and Paul Gross.  It had tryouts in Toronto from 16 September to 30 October 2011 and played on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre from 6 November, with an official opening on 17 November.  Simon Paisley Day played Victor, and Anna Madeley played Sibyl.  The production closed early, on 31 December 2011.
  A production ran at the Chichester Festival Theatre from 28 September (previews from 21 September) to 27 October 2012, starring Anna Chancellor as Amanda and Toby Stephens as Elyot, with Anthony Calf as Victor and Anna-Louise Plowman as Sibyl.  It was directed by Jonathan Kent. This production was reprised with the same cast at the Gielgud Theatre, in London, from 3 July (previews from 22 June) to 21 September 2013. This performance was broadcast to participating cinemas in the UK from 6 February 2014, and in the US on 11 December 2013, by CinemaLive and Digital Theatre in their West End Theatre Series.
  A UK tour of Private Lives starring Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers is scheduled to open in October 2020 in Bath.
caption: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were the headline stars in a 1983 Broadway production
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