Claim: Laurence Olivier performed in a play.

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 , Maggie Smith , Kim Cattrall and Lindsay Duncan . Directors of new productions have included John Gielgud , Howard Davies and Richard Eyre . The play was made into a 1931 film and has been adapted several times for television and radio .