William Connell and Laura Odeh Photo by Dan Norman

Since then its cachet has gained somewhat. It has always been prized as a wonderful sampler of Sir Noël's legendary rapier wit and a world view that manages to be both cynical and giddy. It has also offered fabulous opportunities for two leading players to follow in the footsteps of its peerless originators. These have included Tallulah Bankhead, Elaine Stritch, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Maggie Smith, Tammy Grimes, Brian Bedford, Joan Collins, Lindsay Duncan, and Alan Rickman.

The Guthrie has mounted Private Lives as a summer offering, when frothy fare is usually on order. The Guthrie, under David Ivers' direction, has come through with two blazingly hot performances in the person of William Connell as Elyot Chase and Laura Odeh as Amanda Prynne. Elyot and Amanda are ex-spouses who divorced after a tempestuous three-year marriage, and now–now being the 1930s–have both remarried and, in a plot device that Coward treats as "why not?," end up honeymooning with their new partners in adjoining suites at a posh Deauville resort.

Before the two exes realize their dilemma, we are given a chance to see each of them with their new spouses, and from the start we wonder about each pair, are these two really cut out for one another? Elyot's new wife Sibyl, is eleven years his junior and seems to prefer fairly calm waters in contrast to his bold spirit. Victor, Amanda's new husband, conveys the devotion of a wounded puppy while she warns him that she is quite unreliable. Both of the new spouses ask numerous questions about their respective partners' exes, seemingly insecure about their ability to measure up.

Sibyl and Victor each opine strongly that the divorce was completely their partner's ex's fault, a theory Elyot and Amanda each try to quash. All this is prelude to Elyot and Amanda finally finding themselves together on their seaside terrace, panic stricken–but we do not yet understand whether their panic stems from how much they hate one another or how much they still love one another. When they decide to flee together to Amanda's flat in Paris, we begin to suspect it's the latter.

But not so fast–as the play moves on to Amanda's heavenly Paris digs, drenched in red art deco furnishings (smashing set design is by Alexander Dodge), Amanda and Elyot exchange plenty of hateful words, and go beyond words to physical thrashings, though the line between these events and the heated lust that erupts between them can be hard to discern. Theirs is a relationship that will never work, yet can never be fully dissolved as long as they both share Coward's conveniently cozy universe. It is also the result of two people who seem to have plenty of money, leaving them with little to do but sate themselves with sybaritic pleasures and amuse themselves with declarations of outrage.

This would make the characters a pair of utter bores if not for the sublime wit that Coward endows them with, dished out gay (in the 1930s sense) abandon, and the fact that both actors, Connell and Odeh, are attractive enough to make their base desires palpable. Too, they both frolic, whether in a state of arousal or of wrath, with the virtuosity of a pair of gymnasts. Odeh in particular astonishes us with her non-stop animation.

Both Connell and Odeh have Broadway, Off-Broadway, and a deep file of regional theatre experience, but as far as I can tell, this is both actors' first appearance in a Twin Cities-produced show. (You may have been lucky enough to catch William Connell in the national tour of A Soldier's Play that briefly visited the Fitzgerald Theater in 2023.) The Guthrie makes a practice of using a wide net to cast its work, and while we have actors in our community who could make hay with these roles, it is a treat to see performances by other gifted actors, such as Connell and Odeh, working around the country.

The abandoned bride and bridegroom–now red-faced by fury rather than newlywed shyness, are played by Dustin Bronson (as Victor) and Nikki Massoud as Sybil. Once jilted by the cavalier Amanda and Elyot, they form a loose federation to find out if their nascent marriages are really so quickly down the drain. That federation proves to be as unstable as Amanda and Elyot's. Massoud, a New York-based actor seen in the Guthrie's English in 2024, does a fine job as proper Sibyl who, as Elyot suspects, shows all signs of fitting the mold of a conventional wife, flashing up in anger at what she perceives to be her husband's eccentricity.

Bronson has been a welcome face on many Twin Cities stages, including the Guthrie, and gave a fabulous turn as Tom Wingfield in Theater Latté Da's The Glass Menagerie this past winter. However, he doesn't seem to quite connect with Victor. While the other three actors melt into their characters, I kept having the sense that I was watching Bronson acting the role of Victor, which is not the ideal state of things.

A fifth cast member, Bradley Beahen, appears as a lounge pianist, playing a baby grand piano perched on the roof of the Deauville hotel, tickling the ivories before the play begins with period tunes like "Blue Skies," "Ain't Misbehavin'," and "I Love Paris" (that latter actually written by Cole Porter in 1953, but it sounds right for 1930). Our pianist acts as host, making some pre-show announcements and inviting us to enjoy the play, thus setting the stage for an entertainment in keeping with the easy charm of his melodies. Beahen then provides incidental piano music from the roof throughout Act 1. For Acts 2 and 3, set in Amanda's Paris flat, the piano is brought down to ground level. Beahen also takes on the brief role of Louis, who is usually Louise, and is Amanda's French maid, serving a comic bit based on the French-English language barrier that the audience seemed to enjoy, but was lost to me.

David Ivers' direction makes good use of the large area available on the Wurtele Thrust Stage, giving plenty of space for Amanda and Elyot to release their oversized emotions with daring physicality. Ivers also serves as the production's fight director, which must have taken up a considerable portion of his time, given the brawling that goes on.

The production values are superb. In addition to Dodge's sets, Meg Neville has designed costumes that sparkle with early 1930s glamour, making sure that Amanda's wardrobe is more chic and alluring than Sibyl's and that Elyot's attire is more debonair than Victor's. Lighting designer Pablo Santiago obliges with lighting that accentuates the haze of romance and the glare of the aftermath when morning comes. Fabian Obispo's sound design works well to make every one of Sir Noël's bon móts can be precisely heard.

While the two leads are outstanding, the design elements gorgeous, and the tone and pacing of the production are in perfect pitch, none of that can change the fact that Amanda and Elyot are both horrible people who no doubt deserve one another. Whether or not their liaison lasts–oh, what's the use, we know it can't and yet, in some form or other, it will–it is hard to care, no matter that Amanda declares when pushed by Elyot to state what she believes in that she "believes in being kind to everyone."

Amanda and Elyot–and, for that matter, Sibyl and Victor too–are funny, spicy company for a couple of hours, but by the end, we are well rid of them. Private Lives was a smashing vehicle for besties Noël and Gertrude, but in fashioning a play to suit their talents and personas, Coward didn't get around to putting any heart into it. I enjoyed hearing his rapier wit wrapped in the splendor of Ivers' sparkling production, but left feeling the need for a good cleansing to rinse off the residue of its depravity and cynicism.

Private Lives runs through August 23, 2026, at the Guthrie Theater, Wurtele Thrust Stage, 618 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-377-2224 or visit GuthrieTheater.org.

Playwright: Noël Coward; Director: David Ivers; Scenic Designer: Alexander Dodge; Costume Designer: Meg Neville; Lighting Designer: Pablo Santiago; Sound Designer: Fabian Obispo; Intimacy: Annie Enneking; Fight Director: David Ivers; Resident Dramaturg: Carla Steen; Resident Vocal Coach: Keely Wolter; Resident Casting Director: Jennifer Liestman; NYC Casting Consultant: McCorkle Casting, Ltd; Assistant Director: Idman Adan; Stage Manager: Laura Topham; Assistant Stage Manager: Matthew Meeks.

Cast: Bradley Beahen (Piano Player/Louis), Dustin Bronson (Victor Prynne), William Connell (Elyot Chase), Nikki Massoud (Sibyl Chase), Laura Odeh (Amanda Prynne).