Coward was in the middle of an extensive Asian tour when he contracted influenza in Shanghai. He spent the … See more

Act 1
Following a brief courtship, Elyot and Sibyl are honeymooning at a hotel in Deauville, France, although her curiosity about his first marriage is not helping his romantic mood. In the adjoi… See more

Produced by C. B. Cochran, the play premiered on 18 August 1930, at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh, directed by Coward and starring Coward as Elyot, Gertrude Lawrence as Amanda, Laurence Olivier as Victor and … See more

The original production received mixed reviews. Coward later wrote, "The critics described Private Lives variously as 'tenuous, thin, brittle, gossamer, iridescent, and delightfully daring'. All of which connoted i… See more

Private Lives has been the subject of literary analysis under a range of literary theories. Coward expressed a dim view of such analyses: "Many years ago an earnest young man wrote a book about my plays. It was very in… See more

Hanns Kräly and Richard Schayer wrote the screenplay for a 1931 film adaptation directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Norma Shearer as Amanda and Robert Montgomery as Elyot. Una Merkel and Reginald D… See more