A divorced couple honeymooning with their brand-new spouses discover they've booked rooms with adjacent balconies in Cleveland Play House's new staging of Noël Coward's Private Lives, running Oct. 24 through Nov. 22 at the Outcalt Theatre. The five-actor comedy opens the theater's 111th season and puts a fresh cast through the paces of one of the stage's most enduring romantic farces.
The production centers on Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne, a once-married pair who stumble into each other while each is on a honeymoon with a new spouse, according to Cleveland Play House. They end up in adjacent rooms at the same hotel, a plot device the theater describes as mismatched exes finding themselves honeymooning on adjacent balconies. Kate A. Mulligan takes on Amanda Prynne, bringing credits that include 13 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, while Jordan Barbour plays Elyot Chase in his Cleveland Play House debut, having previously appeared in The Inheritance, winner of the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play.
A Cast Rounded Out By Newcomers and Returning Talent
Jamie Ann Romero plays Sibyl Chase, Elyot's newer wife, bringing Broadway experience from The Cottage, while Mikhail Roberts makes his own Cleveland Play House debut as Victor Prynne, Amanda's new husband. Madalyn Baker rounds out the five-actor company as Louise; the theater describes her as an actor, playwright and musician from Northern California. The production runs at the black-box Outcalt Theatre, as reported by Cleveland.com.
Director Christopher Liam Moore, who has directed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and numerous regional theaters and who staged the Great Lakes Theater production of Noises Off in 2025, said he has always been a huge fan of Noël Coward and has always wanted to direct Private Lives, according to the Morning Journal. Moore described the play as a perfect jewel box of a comedy and compared the troubled relationship at its center to a car crash you can't look away from, the paper reports.
A Script With Nearly A Century Of Staying Power
Private Lives was first performed in 1930 at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland, before beginning its first Broadway run in January 1931, per the same report from the Morning Journal. The play has since had seven Broadway revivals, including a notable 1983 staging that starred Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, a pair who had begun a romantic relationship while filming Cleopatra in 1963, according to the paper's account. The most recent Broadway staging came in 2011 with Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross in the leads, as noted by Playbill.
The comedy's durability isn't limited to past decades. Playbill reports that a Broadway revival of Private Lives is planned for the 2026-27 season, though casting, creative team, dates and a theater have not yet been announced. The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis also staged its own production this year, directed by David Ivers, with previews beginning July 18, opening July 23, and performances running through Aug. 23 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage, according to BroadwayWorld, which noted the play continues to be revived at theaters around the world.
Part Of A Season Built On Humor And Connection
Private Lives kicks off a 2026-27 Cleveland Play House season that also includes Annie, The Da Vinci Code and Working: a Musical, according to the Cleveland.com report. The theater described the lineup as built around stories of humor, courage and connection, the outlet noted. Tickets for Private Lives run $30 to $72, and the Outcalt Theatre is located at 1407 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland, with information available by phone at 216-400-7000.
