Love is a tempestuous, abusive affair in Michael Longhurst’s sleek staging of Noël Coward’s intimate tragicomedy. In a production that grows in confidence as the night goes on, the highs and lows of an addictive, damaging relationship are shown through impromptu charleston dances and furiously smashed glasses. Here, love is savage and inescapable.
Divorced couple Elyot (a careless, arrogant Stephen Mangan) and Amanda (a glorious, prowling Rachael Stirling) cannot bear to be around or apart from one another. They make each other crack up with laughter and yet as soon as they settle for a moment, Coward’s snappy, scathing dialogue releases gross cruelties.
