From the creative team behind ‘Blithe Spirit’ and ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ comes HER Productions next classical takeover: Coward’s Private Lives.
Embracing Coward’s trademark banter and elegance, HER’s production peels back the frothy surface, laying bare the complex power dynamics of love and gender.
In HER’s trademark strip backed style as a smaller independent theatre company, its production will zoom in on the people of the play and fully tease out Coward’s carefully crafted and intricate relationships taking inspiration from The White Lotus. Exceptionally rich, egotistical people, away from their day-to-day lives, navigating messy relationships and a public vs private persona – expect biting repartee, champagne-fuelled chaos and a deliciously dangerous game of love and lust.
HER’s Artistic Director Hannah Ellis Ryan takes on the role of Amanda. Hannah has produced over 30 independent theatre productions and as an actress – has appeared in ‘COCK’ by Mike Bartlett, Othello, A Dolls House and over 30 episodes of Coronation Street playing Hannah Gilmore – the daughter of Liz and Jim McDonald.
She has also produced short films with Brew Up Productions, the latest of which ‘Filter’, won Best Short at the British International Film Festival, which Hannah also wrote and starred in. In 2025 Hannah was awarded the Olwyn Wymark Award for her work in new writing by the Writers Guild of Great Britain.
Alongside her, playing Elyot, is accomplished stage and screen actor Charlie Nobel. His work spans everything from Bollywood productions to Shakespeare tours. His credits include ‘Peter Quince’ and ‘Bottom’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ‘Paulinus’ and ‘Gringolet the horse’ in BOUDICA/The Green Knight, and ‘Terry’ in the brand new ‘Flat Earth The Musical’.
‘Private Lives’ marks Charlie’s first Noël Coward play.
Completing the cast are Jack Elliot as Victor and Hope Yolanda as Sybil.
Yolanda is a Mancunian actress, and a Royal Exchange Young Company Graduate. Over the past year she has appeared in: Dogsbody by Lindsay Williams for JB Shorts 26, Squeaky Bum’s Never Gonna Be One Of The Lads by Alicia Forde, Wizard of Oz at The Dukes Theatre, The Three Little Vikings with Wrongsemble, Alice in Winter Wonderland at The Grange Theatre, and most notably, for the HER Productions audiences, Taming of the ‘Shrew’.
LISTINGS:
Venue: Hope Mill Theatre
Dates: 28th January 2026 – 8th February 2026
Times: All midweek and Saturday evening performances begin at 7pm; Saturday matinees on 31st January and 7th February begin at 2pm and Sundays 1st and 8th February are at 6pm
Prices: £17/£15 concs
Minimum Age: Suitable for ages 14+
Content Warning: Violence, strong language, themes of domestic abuse
https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/event/private-lives/
