Private Lives, Chichester Festival Theatre
"Has it ever occurred to you that flippancy might cover a very real embarrassment?" Elyot's response to fulminating Victor is a line of defence " and since he has run off with Victor's wife Amanda he has a good deal of defending to do. But the line is also Coward's statement of intent. It's a direction as to how Private Lives works and is the key to why it's not just his funniest and finest play but one of the greate…