The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' "Private Lives." Photo by Michael Thanh Tran.
For director Meredith McDonough, one of the best things about getting back into the theater after COVID-19 is a shared laugh.
“I find that comedy in the theater right now, as we're just getting used to coming back together in shared spaces, is so nice,” she says. “It's not just you and two other people laughing at a television show. It's you and a couple hundred people laughing at a scenario that you all share on some level, even though you're strangers. It’s just delightful.”
Luckily for McDonough, there are plenty of opportunities for laughs in her latest project, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ Private Lives, on stage at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre through October 23. The Noël Coward play follows Amanda and Elyot, a former couple who come face-to-face with one another post-divorce at the worst possible time—while on their respective honeymoons with their new loves. It’s a romantic romp full of sharp wit and 1930s sophistication.
Amelia Pedlow as Amanda and Stanton Nash (who some audience members may recognize as Benedick from this summer’s St. Louis Shakespeare Festival production of Much Ado About Nothing) as Elyot will be joined by Carman Lacivita, Kerry Warren, and Yvonne Woods to bring Coward’s comedy of manners to life. McDonough recently collaborated with Pedlow and Lacivita on a production of Emma, and was thrilled to bring them back together for another witty romance.
“It’s been fun, because it was two people I know incredibly well, and then actors who were brand new to me and to each other. And none of us have ever worked on Noël Coward before, so it was great to truly just get in a room together and play,” she says. “The great thing about The Rep is that they are a theater for artists. They give you time and resources to really be able to play and understand what the thing is that you're making.”
McDonough describes the play as a love letter to a strong, wonderful woman–it was originally written by Coward for his best friend, Gertrude Lawrence, who starred opposite Coward in the original production. Working with the story and the character of Amanda, for her, has been one of the great joys of telling this story, which remains relevant even 90-plus years after its inception. But the strength of this show, she says, is truly the talents of its cast. Their gifts and personalities—Nash’s piano playing, Warren and Lacivita’s “clowning”—were baked into their characters to craft The Rep’s take on this classic play that McDonough says is, above all, fun.
“I love watching it every night, because I feel like this production is so unique to the four people that are in it. It was truly made with everything they were bringing to the table in mind,” says McDonough. “It's a fun room to be in, and for any of us that have ever fallen in love, this play is for you. It will remind you of all the best and all the most impossible parts of it.”
Private Lives runs October 7–23 at the Catherine B. Berges Theatre at COCA. Tickets are $23-92 and available for purchase at repstl.org.
