A classic comedy of ‘appalling’ manners: 'Private Lives' comes to North Salem's Schoolhouse Theater

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Bram Lewis and Owen Thompson are virtual encyclopedias of theater lore, and Hudson Valley theater culture is all the better for it. Their passionate knowledge and high standards entertain audiences at their Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls with definitive stagings of the best works in the rich canon of live theater. Lewis serves as producing director of the enterprise, and Thompson is artistic director.

Even when an unanticipated change of plans forces their hand, the Schoolhouse dynamic duo have the wherewithal to neatly pivot and keep their season humming without a hiccup.

The theater’s fall 2026 season originally had A View from the Bridge in the September slot. However, the sudden announcement of an Off-Broadway revival of that celebrated Arthur Miller play, starring Sam Rockwell and Alfred Molina, meant any other productions of the explosive immigrant family drama had to be put on hold, though they intend to come back to it when the rights next become available.

In the meantime, what to do with the unwelcome hole in the theater schedule? If you’re Lewis and Thompson, you suck it up, do a 180 and turn from heavyweight Miller to a different type of heavyweight: the irrepressible British raconteur Noel Coward and his classic comedy of manners, Private Lives. As a bonus for solving their temporary troubles, they save the cost of royalties, with the Coward play on the open market in the public domain, so the rights are free and clear.

For those not well acquainted with Coward or his brand of incisive British wit, Thompson relates an anecdote from the production’s costumer, Nancy Nichols. When she was attached to a production of the show in Texas years ago, Nichols heard the box office respond to inquiries about Coward by saying, “He’s the Neil Simon of England.” In the general realm of sophisticated comedic stagecraft, other brand names are Tom Stoppard and Alan Ayckbourn.

It’s too soon to tell if any works of the estimable “Doc” Simon — who in the 1960s had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway — will be revived 100 years after their initial runs. But that is the case with Private Lives, which debuted in 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland, before moving to London. Nearly a century later, it still pulses with the same verbal vigor that distinguished its debut 96 years ago.

While Private Lives is a prototypical comedy of manners, Thompson, with a glint in his eye, quips that it also can be aptly described as a “comedy of appalling manners.”

The setup is that Elyot and Amanda have been divorced for five years. Each is newly remarried, Elyot to Sybil and Amanda to Victor. Elyot has not met Victor, and Amanda has not met Sybil.

So, what are the odds that both sets of newlyweds would be honeymooning not only at the same seaside resort in Deauville, France, but in suites next to each other, complete with adjacent terraces? The odds that such a bizarre circumstance would present itself are 100% when the deliriously devilish puppet master pulling the strings is none other than “The Master” of high-wire theatricality, Mr. Noel Coward.

In the three-act play, the first act is at the resort, while the second and third acts are in Amanda’s flat in Paris, to which the newly reacquainted Elyot and Amanda have stolen away, leaving their new partners to fend for themselves without leaving so much as a “ta-ta” note.

In his director’s notes in the play’s program, Thompson writes:

“Nobody ever wrote dialogue that moved with more speed, precision, wit, or musicality ... Coward understood that style could be more than decoration: it could be armor. His characters use wit, elegance, cruelty, and performance to conceal feelings too unruly to be admitted in polite company.”

The director continues, “Our task has been not to apologize for it, tame it, or force it to conform neatly to the expectations of 2026, but rather to listen closely enough that it may live as fully today as when it was originally presented. Nearly a century after its premiere, it remains dangerous, troubling, hilarious, and startlingly modern: a dazzling comedy that repeatedly reveals the pain, hunger, and loneliness beneath its elegance. Private Lives is a glittering comedy that keeps accidentally revealing that it is a tragedy—or perhaps it is a tragedy that has had the audacity to dress for dinner.”

One example of Coward’s sly command of language, fashioning subversive twists we don’t see coming, and his surgical evisceration of our self-regard is this pithily withering exchange:

SYBIL: She was pretty, wasn’t she? Amanda?

ELYOT: Very pretty.

SYBIL: Prettier than I am?

ELYOT: Much.

Ouch!

Here’s another spicy serving of red-hot Coward flambe:

VICTOR: I don't believe you're nearly as complex as you think you are.

AMANDA: I don't think I'm particularly complex, but I know I'm unreliable.

Lewis comments, “Coward wanted to bring out the wicked people. He loved the scandale. Play after play he is accessing that wicked side of human nature and getting the audience to love it anyway.”

That said, here’s one more specimen of Coward’s stinging takedown of the human condition:

AMANDA: Shall we always want to bicker and fight?

ELYOT: No, that desire will fade, along with our passion.

Thompson comes from an accomplished theater family. His sister, Jenn Thompson, is director of the current run of the musical Les Miserables at Hudson Valley Shakespeare in Garrison. It’s sold out, but you might get lucky scoring a seat from ticket resellers such as StubHub.

Owen tells a priceless story drawn from his family history. When Owen’s mother was 6 years old in England, she tagged along with a friend who was auditioning for Romeo and Juliet, which starred none other than Laurence Olivier, then in his 20s, and Vivien Leigh.

When the destined-to-be-legendary actor heard Owen’s mom’s English accent, he asked her, “How would you like to be in my play for 10 dollars a week?” Young Olivier also was in the original production of Private Lives. As Owen says, “Laurence Olivier gave my mom her first job in the theater.” How legendary is that?! Owen adds that his mom “went on to do so much,” including playing the daughter of Tallulah Bankhead’s character in the classic drama Member of the Wedding.

Also worth noting is that Thompson for the past three years running has been named Best Director for this region in the annual BroadwayWorld poll. That family DNA is still working its magic.

After Private Lives, which runs through Sept. 20, the Schoolhouse Theater presents James Goldman’s gripping historical drama The Lion in Winter, about Henry II of England, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their three sons, each of whom aspires to succeed their father on the throne. The Schoolhouse production will reign Dec. 4-20.

For ticket and other information, visit theschoolhousetheater.org.

The Schoolhouse Theater is in the North Salem Community Center at 3 Owens Road in Croton Falls. Bram Lewis, the longtime spiritual soul of the Schoolhouse Theater, says, “Some of what we do is better than I’ve seen anywhere. It’s a little theater and we’re punching above our weight.”

He expresses deep appreciation for the support the theater has enjoyed from North Salem: “The town has bent over backwards making a space for us in the Community Center,” he said, crediting Town Supervisor Warren Lucas and “the whole crew.”