Nigel Havers and Patricia Hodge are going to help Britain find its funny bone again by taking Noel Coward’s comic classic Private Lives on the road in October.
David Pugh, who is producing with the newly formed Nigel Havers Theatre Company, said ticket prices would be kept low: under £10, with a top price under £40.
‘Everyone has been hit,’ Pugh declared. ‘I don’t want to be out there doing tickets for 40, 50 or 60 pounds. I think that’s wrong.’
Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers in Noel Coward’s comic classic Private Lives, which they will be taking to the road in October. The production plans to open at the Theatre Royal, Bath
He said he and provincial theatres have been exploring safety issues that could be introduced. ‘We’ve got to use government advice, of course; and we’ve got to use our common sense, too, to woo people back to the theatre.’
The production, directed by Christopher Luscombe, plans to open at the Theatre Royal, Bath, on October 4 before heading to Norwich, Cheltenham, Newcastle, Cambridge, Richmond, Malvern and (after a Christmas break) Chichester and Leeds.
Havers and Hodge, who are committed even if dates change, will play feuding hedonists Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne.
The champagne-fuelled pair were married fleetingly but rediscover each other years later, on adjacent hotel balconies in Deauville, while on their second honeymoons … with new partners.
Miranda Hart, left, and Patricia Hodge, playing Penny, in the BBC comedy series Miranda. Penny’s character is loosely based on Miranda’s real mother, Dee Hart-Dyke
Havers as Lewis Archer and Sue Nicholls as Audrey Roberts in Coronation Street, pictured in 2013, in an episode where Audrey checks her bank in case Archer has taken any more money
Patricia Hodge posing for a picture with Miranda Hart. The British sitcom, which has three seasons, was aired in 2009 and filmed in front of a live audience
Havers as Lewis Archer and Helen Worth as Gail McIntyre in Coronation Street, pictured in January 2013, in an episode where Audrey is fed up of her family being at war
When I talked to Hodge on Tuesday she said: ‘We all need cheering up, so if we can provide a few laughs, most of all at ourselves, then it won’t be a bad thing.’
Coward wrote Private Lives in 1930 while he and Gertrude Lawrence — his Amanda — were in their 30s, and people often assume (wrongly) that they must be played by actors of that age.
‘We’re very old!’ said Hodge, 73, of herself and her co-star, 68. ‘My first reaction was: “You can’t be serious!” But I read it and realised that 90 per cent of it is non-age-specific.
‘It’s a great observation of a couple who can’t live together and can’t live apart — it’s a pretty universal love story.’
Havers starring as Ralph Ernest Gorse, a suave conman, in the drama series The Charmer, a 1987 British television mini-series which spanned over six episodes
Hodge as the Lady Hanbury, who comes under the suspicious eye of Inspector Morse in the episode The Ghost in the Machine. Inspector Morse ran for 12 seasons from 1987 to 2000
Hodge starring as Mary Fisher and Dennis Waterman as Bobbo in The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, a 1986 mini-series adapted from Fay Weldon’s 1983 novel
Havers as Ralph Ernest Gorse and Fiona Fullerton as Clarice Mannors in ITV’s The Charmer
She continued with a rallying cry: ‘Let’s take theatre to the people and be part of the process of rebuilding their fractured confidence.’
Havers has been holed up in Wiltshire with wife Georgiana, studying lines and learning to play the piano for the scene where Elyot tinkles the ivories to sing Some Day I’ll Find You.
He and Hodge have worked together often over the years, though never on Private Lives. ‘Everyone thinks we have, though we have done telly and radio drama together.’
He adores touring, and said he’s looking forward to 18 weeks on the road — with a break for what is becoming his regular festive gig, the London Palladium panto (this year: Jack And The Beanstalk).
Next month, he can be seen in a BBC daytime drama called The Bidding Room.