Coward's wit and precision as a modern dramatist is nowhere better exemplified than in this classic modern play from 1930. Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne (originally played by Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward), recently divorced from one another five years previously, arrive coincidentally at the same French hotel. They are honeymooning with their respective new spouses. Encountering one another by chance, each is at once horrified and fascinated by the other. Together they leave for Paris and begin a roundelay of quarrels and love intrigues that culminate in their getting back together.
I thought I'd never seen anything by the much renowned Noel Coward until I learned that "Sérénade à trois", filmed by the great Ernst Lubitsch, was based on one of his plays. Watching an Ernst Lubitsch film is like reading "Private lives" : have a glass of champagne and enjoy the bubbles ! Forget about real troubles, the characters will distract you with their own problems of rich, idle people who don't have a care in the world.
It was an elegant, witty, funny time that I spent reading this short play (58 pages) about a couple who can't live together but can't live apart. They spend their time trying to get away from each other, marrying other people to try and do the sensible thing, falling back in love, fighting again, getting their spouses back and finally eloping together again. They're never bored and never bore us, but tenderness is also there.
I would love to watch the play with Anna Chancellor and Toby Stephens but it's only available on Digital Theatre, so if anyone has a tip ?...
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