Cygnet Theatre has been dusting off its British accents lately. The company is staging Noel Coward’s frothy comedy, Private Lives, shortly after closing its raved-reviewed Sweeney Todd (the Demon Barber of Fleet Street). Upcoming in July is an even more ambitious project: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests, three plays set in an English country house performed in repertory.

But for now we have Private Lives, staged with enough verve and skill to fill out a delightful summer evening in Old Town.

(L-R) Jessica John, Manny Fernandes,

Shana Wride & Sean Murray

_{Photo by Daren Scott}

Mr. Coward’s 1930 camp classic confirmed him as a worthy successor to Oscar Wilde, especially in the production of bon mot one-liners. His tale of divorced spouses who find love amidst the zingers may seem ordinary today, but it was at least somewhat shocking to audiences of its time. The fact the Mr. Coward could get away with making spousal abuse funny (“Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs”) still resonates uneasily. Yet, it does resonate. I saw quite a few couples clucking appreciatively at the play’s depictions of the turmoils of married life.

Elyot (Sean Murray) is honeymooning with his new wife, Sibyl (Jessica John), when he discovers that his former spouse, Amanda (Shana Wride), is also on her honeymoon with her new husband, Victor (Manny Fernandes). Elyot and Amanda reconnect and make their escape to Amanda’s Paris apartment, where they discover all over again why their marriage ended in divorce.

While the story is a simple one, pulling it off requires exquisite timing and comedic chops. In Cygnet’s production, co-directed by Francis Gercke and Mr. Murray with dance choreography by Colleen Kollar Smith and fight choreography by George Yé, Elyot and Amanda are slightly mismatched. Mr. Murray’s Elyot looks in Act 1 as if he just wandered in from Sweeney Todd, and he seemed like he would rather be demonizing Fleet Street. Ms. Wride’s Amanda, on the other hand, seemed a bit overly consumed with the societal niceties that Mr. Coward was satirizing. The gloves came off in Act 2, where Mr. Murray proved to be an avid, yet abusive lover, while Ms. Wride demonstrated her facility with physical comedy, giving as good as she got.

Mr. Fernandes effectively humanized the thankless role of Amanda’s jilted husband, and Ms. John managed to look appropriately clueless until Act 3, when she came into her own. Annie Hinton contributed a very funny bit as Amanda’s French-speaking housekeeper.

Andrew Hull designed an utterly gorgeous Paris apartment, a design rivaled only in recent memory by Alexander Dodge’s San Francisco bay view mansion in the Old Globe’s 2008 production of The Pleasure of His Company. Bonnie L. Durben also deserves kudos for dressing that apartment with many humorous and comically functional props. Shirley Pierson costumed the cast in style, while Eric Lotze’s lighting and Matt Lescault-Wood’s sound were also highly effective.

Performances at the Old Town Theatre run Wednesday through Sunday, with weekend matinees, through July 3. Old Town is especially busy this time of year, but Cygnet has a small parking lot next to the theatre reserved for patrons. Come early, though, and enjoy the pleasant June evening along with a very funny play.

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