Winni Playhouse starts professional season with 'Private Lives'

MEREDITH — If you’ve ever run into an ex, even after an absence of several years, then you might have heard a chord strike in your heart, announcing that the connection was not dead, just dormant. So, what should one do with that revived connection? What if revives at an inopportune time?

That’s the question that drives “Private Lives,” a comedy written by Noel Coward in 1930. Though close to a century old now, the script has prescient messages for modern audiences, said Clayton Phillips, who is directing “Private Lives” to start off the Winnipesaukee Playhouse’s 2022 professional calendar.

The play contains insights about love, marriage, gender roles, “And it’s very funny,” Phillips said, adding that it’s his favorite of the playwright’s catalog. Coward’s script sees the two main characters, “Amanda” and “Elyot,” ex-spouses who haven’t seen each other in five years, with adjoining suites in the same hotel, where they are each hoping to build a new relationship with their new partners.

Of course, this being a comedy, things don’t go as planned. That old connection fires back up, even though the reasons for their divorce return almost as quickly.

In a way, it’s a tale about the human heart, as true today as it was in 1930.

“If you truly care about somebody, it’s hard to deny what unconditional love actually is. As difficult as it can be, love is not simple,” Phillips said. Meanwhile, there’s also discussion about why people get married in the first place. For one of the characters, matrimony offers a level of status and agency that she couldn’t access as a single woman. “It’s been 100 years since this play was written, and it’s still kind of happening.”

“Private Lives” runs at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse through June 25, with performances Tuesdays through Saturdays. The cast for the show is a list of actors already well-known to Playhouse regulars: Haley Jones, Nicholas Wilder, Michael Luongo, Molly Kane Parker, and Gwen Elise Wiggins. Visit winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org for more information.

This won’t be Phillips’ first play at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. The New Hampshire Theatre Awards gave him “Best Director of a Musical” for both his 2016 production of “Cabaret,” and his 2019 “Chicago.” He also works at Interlakes Summer Theatre and at The Barnstormers.

Phillips’ resume includes work from New Hampshire to Arizona, with many theaters in between. He’s worked with many shows on Broadway, as well as off-Broadway and national tours.

This will be his first local show since moving to the Lakes Region. He now lives in downtown Laconia, after relocating from Florida in the midst of the pandemic. He decided to move, he said, because he had found central New Hampshire to be a place where could find both work and good friends, and because he sees more potential for growth in the performing arts.

“I always believe that good theater creates a new audience. Theater should not be competitive. A great show usually encourages an audience to seek out other venues, and the Lakes Region has great opportunities with Winni, Colonial, Powerhouse and Interlakes,” he said, adding that he would like to see the addition of a smaller venue that could present more experimental works.