Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers to star in Noël Coward's dazzling comic masterpiece Private Lives at the Lowry in February

Following breaking box office records in Bath, Richmond, Chichester and Cambridge, Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Moss Empires are delighted to announce 2022 tour dates for The Nigel Havers Theatre Company production of Noel Coward’s gloriously entertaining Private Lives. This is the inaugural show for The Nigel Havers Theatre Company, which will be touring the country with a wonderful line-up of theatrical gems. The UK Tour of Private Lives will tour to The Lowry from Tuesday 15 February.

The production stars Olivier Award-winning Patricia Hodge as ‘Amanda’ and Nigel Havers as ‘Elyot’, the role taken by Noël Coward himself in the original production in 1930. Astonishingly, it is the first time Nigel Havers has appeared in a Coward play on stage. The cast is completed by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart as ‘Victor’, Natalie Walter as ‘Sibyl’ and Aïcha Kossoko as ‘Louise’.

Coward’s dazzling comic masterpiece is both a scintillatingly witty and scathingly vitriolic study of the rich and reckless in love. Elyot and Amanda, who were once married, find themselves in adjoining rooms in the same hotel on the French coast, both on honeymoon with their new partners. Their initial horror quickly evaporates and soon they’re sharing cocktails and a romantic serenade.

Patricia Hodge’s many theatre credits include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at Trafalgar Studios, Copenhagen at Chichester Festival Theatre, Travels With My Aunt at Minerva, Chichester, Relative Values at the Harold Pinter, Calendar Girls at the Noel Coward Theatre, The Country Wife at Theatre Royal Haymarket, His Dark Materials, Noises Off, A Little Night Music, and Money all at The National – the latter for which she won the Olivier for Best Supporting Actress. Her recent television credits include ‘Ursula Thorpe’ in A Very English Scandal and ‘Penny’ in Miranda both for the BBC, and ‘Mrs Pelham’ in Downton Abbey for ITV.

Nigel Havers’s television credits include ‘Roger’ in Finding Alice for ITV and ‘General Ransom’ in All Creatures Great & Small for Channel 5. Other recent television credits include ‘Lewis Archer’ in ITV’s Coronation Street, ‘Stanley Keen’ in Benidorm and ‘Lord Hepworth’ in Downton Abbey also for ITV. Theatre credits include ‘Serge’ in the UK Tour and West End productions of Art, ‘Algernon Moncrieff’ in the UK Tour of The Importance of Being Earnest and ‘Maxim de Wynter’ in the UK Tour of Rebecca. His film credits include playing ‘David Niven’ in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, ‘Hofstadter’ in Paradise Lost, ‘Dr Rawlins’ in Empire of the Sun and ‘Lord Andrew Lindsay’ in Chariots of Fire.

Dugald Bruce-Lockhart most recently appeared as ‘Michael Gove’ in The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson at Park Theatre. He has also played ‘David Cameron’ in The Three Lions at the St James Theatre and Edinburgh Festival, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in The Stage Awards. Other theatre credits include ‘Bill Austin’ in Mamma Mia! at the West End’s Novello Theatre, ‘David Hart’ in Wonderland at the Hampstead Theatre, ‘Richard Hannay’ in The 39 Steps on UK Tour and, for Ed Hall’s Propeller Theatre Company, he has played the title role in Henry V, ‘Antipholus of Syracuse’ in Comedy of Errors and ‘Ratcliffe’ in Richard III.

Natalie Walter’s most recent theatre credits include Pack of Lies and Smash, both at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Jerusalem at the Watermill Theatre, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at the Bush Theatre, 39 Steps at the West End’s Criterion Theatre, Hay Fever at Chichester Festival Theatre and, for the RSC, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s Labour’s Lost. Natalie was a regular performer in the CBBC series Horrible Histories.

Aïcha Kossoko’s most recent theatre credits include playing ‘Alia Aminu’ in Josie Rourke’s production of The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse, Antony & Cleopatra at Chichester Festival Theatre and Liverpool Playhouse, The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Welcome To Thebes and The Observer at the National Theatre and La Dispute at the Abbey Theatre Dublin. Television credits include Skins, In Deep, Coronation Street, Casualty, EastEnders and Kingmakers. She played ‘Lady Detective’ in BBC Radio 4’s dramatization of The Number One Ladies Detective Agency.

Private Lives will be directed by Christopher Luscombe, with set and costume designs by Simon Higlett, lighting design by Mark Jonathan, music by Nigel Hess, sound design by Jeremy Dunn, fight direction by Malcolm Ranson and casting by Sarah Bird.

The Nigel Havers Theatre Company’s Private Lives is produced by Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Moss Empires.