Private Lives

“AMANDA: I think very few people are completely normal really, deep down in their private lives.”
― Noël Coward, Private Lives an Intimate Comedy in Three Acts

Merv and I went to see Private Lives at the Royal Alex last night. With Paul Gross and Kim Cattrell in the starring roles, the play was brilliantly acted, funny and fresh. The Royal Alex was quite full though the crowd was different from what we normally see. We were practically youngsters by comparison to most of the patrons. But like the other patrons, we laughed out loud during much of the production. At one point in the last act, even the actors were struggling to keep from laughing.

One of the most amazing things to me about this production, is that Noel Coward wrote and first staged it in 1930. It opened on Broadway for the first time in 1931. And yet, it is still funny and still relevant more than eighty years later. That's quite a feat. It is on at the Royal Alex until October 30. After that time, the production moves to Broadway.

Tomorrow morning the CIBC Run for the Cure in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation will take place in downtown Toronto. Though the forecast is for a cold and rainy morning, Nancy and I will be there for the fourteenth consecutive year to do our 5K walk. There are normally more than 20 thousand participants at the event each year but I somehow seem to bump into the same people year after year. Participating in the event is always uplifting and is really the launch of Breast Cancer Awareness Month for me. Not that I need a particular month to raise my awareness. Unfortunately, breast cancer is never far off my radar screen or Nan's. And yet, we thrive.