Private Lives

Any production of a Coward play which wins delighted applause can't be a failure, and so this Feedback Theatre production will be a popular success. This makes it easier to spoil the party by admitting to the intense irritation provoked by this presentation.

Sophistication can't be put on with a jacket - but it is always sensible to learn how to tie the clothes worn on stage. Above all, the rhythms of Noel Coward's dialogue must be mastered, not approximated. This brisk, glancing and beautifully structured piece of theatre demands vocal precision and the appearance, at least, of physical confidence.

Director Mary Curtin should have followed the playwright's advice and beaten her cast, regularly, like gongs . . .

Plays at the Everyman Palace, Cork, until October 2nd (booking at 021 501673)