To be honest, the role of Amanda in Noel Coward's, Private Lives is one of the main reasons I did the Lyric Season. In the more high profile productions of Private Lives, Amanda and Elyot are played by actors in their 50's or older. The script actually describes them as people in their 30's. Not that that really matters. I think the roles can be played from 30 something on up. It works! But, I had imagined that I would not get to play this role until I was much older. So, it was exciting to know that I would play Amanda now and then play her again for the next 20+ years. I would love that. She is a tremendous character. One of the best!
Our cast included Nicholas Dunn as Elyot (pictured with me, trying to block my pillow thwack), Amanda Mahoney as Sybil, Gordon Dunn as Victor and Katie Francis as Louise the French maid (not pictured). Nick and Gordon are brothers! So that was a fun dynamic to work with. Amanda, who was in all three plays that I was in, was my roommate this summer and has turned out to be a great friend. We all got along well and worked hard. We laughed a lot and absolutely loved the material.
Our director Ken Risch was fabulous! I learned so much from him and loved his directing style. He gave us subtext and then allowed us to play. He came every night to the show. At first I was thinking, "What is he doing here? He can go home now, his work is done.' But soon I realized that it wouldn't be the same if he wasn't there. It became almost a superstitious thing for me, if he wasn't there one night, something would go terribly wrong. Haha I also like the fact that we could occasionally chat afterwards about how the show went.
I learned a lot about trust in this show. Trusting the director, trusting the other actors. Especially where Nick and I were concerned. When you do a half hour act with just two people onstage there has to be a tremendous amount of concentration and trust. It felt like a tennis match and at times a fencing match. The wit and intelligence of the material was hard to keep up with and Nick and I had to learn how to control the language and not let it control us. (much like Shakespeare) I had to trust that Nick would be there emotionally and vice versa. We also had a lot of physicality throughout the play and had to trust that we wouldn't lose control and hurt the other person.
By the end of the night I was pretty wiped out, but wired! I think I could have done this play for several more months. The material was amazing and the cast and crew were so much fun! Liz Black was our stage manager. She had been an assistant stage manager in the past and this was her first time as Stage Manager! She was fabulous and had to deal with some tough things. But she was a real trooper and always made the cast feel validated and wonderful. The technical aspects of this show were great. The costumes, set, props and lighting design were stunning. Great job everyone!
Final Verdict: Loved this show. Want to do it again.
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