Author: Noël Coward

Director: Trevor Nunn

Produced by: The Arts Theatre Cambridge

Venue: The Arts Theatre Cambridge

Performance: 24 Feb 2026

Five-star production of Easy Virtue – and in truth, I would happily give it six.

Having seen Private Lives only a couple of weeks ago, this feels like an entirely different style of play and is a striking reminder of the breadth and versatility of Coward’s writing.

In Easy Virtue, he places a modern, intelligent woman who has taken control of her own life into the heart of a traditional country-house family – with predictably explosive consequences. The clash between old-world values and new ‘modern’ independence drives the drama, handled with razor-sharp observation and emotional precision.

The script is so clever (and so well acted) that we understand the characters almost instantly. While not strictly a comedy, the second half delivers genuine laugh-out-loud moments as the tension tightens. Originally banned in the UK for being too risqué and premiering instead in the United States, the play may be over 100 years old, but it still feels fresh, modern and strikingly relevant in its themes of reputation, judgement and female autonomy.

The play opens with the Whittaker family, Colonel and Mrs Whittaker and their daughters, Marion and Hilda, discussing the sudden and unexpected marriage of their son John to a woman he met in Cannes. The set is a sumptuous country house salon, with patio doors to the extensive grounds.

Once the scene is set, John and his bride arrive just as abruptly at the family home, and the beautiful, statuesque Larita makes a dramatic entrance and an even bigger impression.

Three months later, however, the shine has worn off. Larita lies draped across the sofa, bored and isolated, while John, his family and their friends fill their days with tennis and social engagements. Married life is proving far from blissful.

I don’t usually dwell on casting, but this production has clearly been meticulously curated under the experienced eye of Trevor Nunn – and it shows.

Alice Orr-Ewing is perfect as Larita: sophisticated, elegant and fiercely independent yet with an undercurrent of vulnerability. Michael Praed’s Colonel Whittaker takes an immediate shine to his new daughter-in-law and, with a twinkle in his eye, is the only member of the family to offer her genuine warmth. In contrast, Greta Scacchi is every inch the disapproving matriarch, radiating cool disdain. Her physical acting is a joy to watch.

Imogen Elliott is outstanding as the prudish, devout Marion, while Grace Hogg-Robinson brings effervescent energy to the excitable younger sister, Hilda. Joseph Potter plays John as boyish, selfish and emotionally obtuse – a man who enjoys the idea of marriage more than the responsibility of it.

The costuming is 1920s with Larita dressed in stylish (and very modern for the time) trousers and bright, glamorous gowns, while Marion and Hilda are in more dowdy dresses, both for day and evening wear. The youngsters’ tennis costumes are also era-perfect.

It takes John’s former love interest, Sarah Hurst (Lisa Ambalavanar), to point out that he is neglecting his wife while happily continuing his carefree “what-ho” lifestyle, but he remains wilfully blind. Then, on the eve of the family’s grand ball, Hilda reveals a hidden scandal, and the carefully maintained façade shatters.

What follows is gripping, uncomfortable and darkly funny in equal measure. This production balances glamour with emotional bite, drawing out the wit, the tragedy and the clever characterisation in Coward’s writing. It is intelligent, beautifully performed and utterly compelling – simply a triumph!