Private Lives (Masterplots II: Drama)
At a glance:
- Author: Noel Coward
- First Published: 1930
- Type of Work: Comedy of manners
- Time of Work: 1929
- Setting: A seaside hotel in France, and Paris
- Principal Characters: Amanda Prynne, Victor Prynne, Louise, Elyot Chase, Sibyl Chase
- Genres: Drama, Comedy, Comedy of manners, Boulevard drama
- Subjects: Values, France or French people, Love or romance, Marriage, 1920’s, 1930’s, Individuality, England or English people, Upper classes, Adultery, Conformity
- Locales: Paris, France
The Play
Private Lives opens on the terrace of a French hotel overlooking the seaside. Two suites of rooms open onto the terrace, which faces the audience and is separated from it by a stone balustrade. It is evening, the cocktail hour, and an orchestra plays not far away. From the suite stage right enters Sibyl Chase, twenty-three, blonde, and very pretty in her traveling clothes. Soon afterward, Elyot Chase, her new husband, enters, also in traveling clothes. Sibyl and her older husband are English, moneyed, and—especially he—sophisticated in their disregard for...
[The entire page is 2828 words long]
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