Noel Coward’s Private Lives, written in 1930 as a star vehicle for himself and Gertrude Lawrence, reflected the fashion and style of that time.

Plays were set in immaculate drawing rooms or exotic locations where the world of the upper classes was depicted with elegance and sophistication along with its shallowness.

Characters, often displaying a madcap or devil-may-care attitude to life, were frothy, witty creatures whose attitudes and mannerisms may seem outdated to modern audiences.

Therefore, one can imagine the dilemma of a director about to mount a production of Coward’s classic. How does he play it? Should it be a period piece played in the original style with clipped voices and stylised acting, or should he go for a broader comedic, almost farcical approach?

Director Chris Jordan has gone for the latter and, whilst it may not please the Coward purists, it found favour with the Worthing audience on Tuesday.

His telling of the story of the divorced couple, Elyot and Amanda, who meet by chance on their respective honeymoons with their new spouses, is told at a fast and furious pace. The emphasis is on the action rather than relying on the strength of the dialogue. That said, the production both amuses and entertains.

Steven Pinder’s Elyot has a frenetic quality – all energy rather than the usual cool sophistication – and is seen at its best in the fight scene with Amanda, who is played with great gusto by Georgina Sutton.

The physical sparring is matched with the verbal exchanges between the two of them.

The “stooge” roles, as Coward described them, of the new spouses were in the capable hands of Emily Pennart-Rea and Kevin Pallister.

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