Photo  © Sean Owen, Sewell Barn Theatre

Noël Coward was undoubtedly a dandy wrangler of repartee and this 1933 premiered work is not short of smart conversation and elegant phrase. In fact nothing about this play is short!

The basic premise of the play is to dig down unflinchingly into the detail of a three way sexual relationship, likely to have been based on his own experiences as a gay man who lived in a time when to be so was to be at risk of arrest, persecution and blackmail as homosexuality was illegal in Britain until only a handful of years before Coward’s death. He avoids censor-baiting risqué material by creating skilful yet frank conversations between the main characters.

Director Clare Howard has created a superb production with a skilled cast that brings a vibrant intimacy to the play and allows us to really get inside into the difficulties of a complex non traditional relationship.

Artist and designer Gilda is on stage for almost the whole play, with an accomplished performance from Hollie Harrington. We learn that before the time depicted she had met both Otto the painter (Alex Tiller) and Leo the playwright (Lewis Garvey) more or less simultaneously with both falling in love with her. At first she picked Otto, and moved into his Paris studio. But with Otto away one night, she beds Leo with equal fervour. Her friend Ernest (Nick Bodger) an older family friend is baffled by her behaviour which even today would raise a few eyebrows from those of conventional views.

When Otto returns to find himself supplanted he is predictably upset. Gilda moves in with Leo and Otto disappears for a while, only to repeat the switch when Leo is away one night. Gilda then takes off herself to places unknown – at first.

However, over time Otto and Leo become close, travelling the world on packet steamers together and they find Gilda in her swanky New York life determined to jointly rekindle their romances. This final chunk of the drama is handled with customary Coward panache, culminating in an ending which raises many questions but will send the audience home smiling.

Sewell Barn have given us a stimulating, even sexy, production of what must be considered one of Coward’s more difficult plays. The interactions between the three in the triangle of passion are very convincing and beautifully played and they are well supported by the other members of the ten strong cast. I am sure this will be a popular drama so I recommend that you get your tickets now – take your lover, or if you are lucky, both of them!

 

© Julian Swainson, Norwich Eye
10 April 2025

Design for Living By Noël Coward is presented by Sewell Barn Theatre: 10-12 &16-19 April 2025 at 7.30pm. Matinée at 2.30 pm on 19 April. Go to www.sewellbarn.org for tickets and further information