by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold • Mar 24, 2014
Noel Coward's 1930 romantic comedy is a perennial pleasure, but one which requires an impeccable sense of period style and elan. The stylish new production at Portland Players rises to this challenge with an elegant, witty, well-paced rendition of this sendup of warring couples inextricably bound by both attraction and skirmish.
Directed by Claudia Hughes, this five-character comedy of manners becomes a stylish romp with physical farce punctuated by Coward's scintillating verbal wit. Hughes imparts a gleeful air of insouciance to the production. Assisted by Paul Drinan in the fight sequences, she blocks her actors with balletic precision and perfect timing, as well as an excellent ear for the inner rhythms of the piece.