The best thing about Coward plays is that they continue to yield new felicities at each new airing, provided, of course, the cast and direction is right. Private Lives, on the surface, is the archetypal light and airy “change partners” marital merry-go-round, with charmingly feckless rich people who have nothing to do but couple, uncouple, recouple and chase each other around Europe, usually with a glass in hand. But we never grow tired of Elyot and Amanda or even their “straight men”, Victor and Sybil, because beneath the shiny surface are self-questing human beings not allowing themselves a moment t to reflect on the emptiness of their private lives. Coward made a statement about these products of the 20th century which stands the test of time and change; their clothes and some of their modes of travel may assume a chic period quality, but they themselves and the wit of their dialogue, with cutting edge lying below the surface, are timeless.

James Roose-Evans has done well by the Master, whipping the confection along to keep the laughter going, without losing sight of the underlying tensions, and his lead players are as effective as anyone can recall. I was surprised to hear Joanna Lumley mention in a radio interview just how little stage experience she has had time for in her starry career; it certainly doesn't show here, and her Amanda discovers new subtleties of characterisation that make her irresistibly human, besides being quite dazzlingly attractive. Simon Cadell, deputising for James Villiers, captures all the humorous elegance of Elyot to such a degree that the man’s essential boorishness and chauvinism appear almost to be irrelevantly endearing personality problems. Between them, this Elyot and this Amanda seem really to belong together, and for once we can just envisage a happy ending for them. Amanda Parfitt and Timothy Carlton play Sybil and Victor as straightforward nits, and if one feels that they would hardly have attracted their opposites in the first place, they are effective stooges for the stars in an admirable evening’s entertainment.