Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin has long been enamored with Noel Coward, comparing his language and the challenge of performing it to that of Shakespeare's. "Acting Coward is hard. He requires not just good actors, but actors who are verbally and intellectually facile," says Griffin. "I remember reading Private Lives in college, but the first time I saw it performed was with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at the Shubert Theater in Chicago. The play is Coward at the top of his game in terms of wit, intelligence and the sparkle of the language. But it's also Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? turned around, where humor makes it forgiving: two people who are a nightmare together and yet are also the perfect mates."
Long associated with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Griffin has emerged as an acclaimed director with credits ranging from Broadway to London. During his 10-year career at CST, he has directed numerous award-winning productions including Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Pacific Overtures-a production Chicago Shakespeare later transferred to Donmar Warehouse in London's West End, where it garnered three Olivier Awards, including Outstanding Musical Production. On Broadway he directed the Tony Award-nominated productions of The Color Purple and The Apple Tree; Off Broadway he directed the world premiere musical Saved, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Beautiful Thing. Griffin has worked extensively in Chicago at Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Writers' Theatre, The Marriott Theatre and Drury Lane Oakbrook. He has received eight Joseph Jefferson Awards for directing. In December, Mr. Griffin makes his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut, directing a new production of The Merry Widow.
For Private Lives, Griffin is working with a first-class creative team, who will reconfigure Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater with the addition of main floor seating on the proscenium stage itself, creating a theater-in-the-round. "The decision to do Private Lives came out of the artistic team's discussions about plays that would lend themselves to our theater specifically and its intimate space," says Griffin. "There is nothing presentational about this piece at all. We are all voyeurs to its intimacy. That's what I think Coward was interested in exploring."
Noel Coward is considered to be one of England's most sophisticated humorists, having written over 50 plays produced in Britain and on Broadway. Private Lives was an overwhelming critical and commercial success when it first premiered in London with Gertrude Lawrence as Amanda, Adrianne Allen as Sybil, Laurence Olivier as Victor and Coward as Elyot. A Broadway production followed in 1931, and the play has since had numerous revivals in London's West End and on Broadway.
Private Lives runs January 6 through March 7, 2010, in the Courtyard Theater at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. For further information and to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at 312-595-5600, or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.