Private Lives Now Showing at Hedgerow

You think you have privacy concerns? They are as nothing compared to the tangled web woven by, with, and around the quartet that Noël Coward created in his comic masterpiece Private Lives, now in a breezy three week run at the Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley.

Five years after their combustible marriage flamed out, Elyot and Amanda are each sharing a blissful honeymoon with their new spouses. As fate (or Coward) would have it, the honeymooners share not only a date and a destination, but also a hotel and a balcony. It’s not long before the embers are stirred, and Elyot and Amanda rekindle their passionate love (and anger) and aggrieved spouses Sibyl and Victor are caught up in the firestorm of emotion, revenge, and recrimination that make allies and enemies of all the duets at various times.

Ninety years after its first Broadway run, Private Lives still epitomizes the wit and whip-smart repartee that Coward archly employed to remake the modern musical comedy. Hedgerow’s core company members Adam Altman, Jessica DalCanton, Jennifer Summerfield, and Jared Reed are well up to the challenge of delivering the crackling dialogue with perfect timing in this production, directed by Ellen Kaplan.

Private Lives runs through Sunday, August 4, at Hedgerow, which is located at 64 W. Rose Valley Road in Rose Valley. Show times, ticket prices, and directions are at hedgerowtheatre.org and 610-565-4211.