Dave and I saw Private Lives Friday night at CalShakes. Private Lives is not a play I was feeling a strong urge to see again; I think it’s a very funny play but I’ve seen it several times in my life already. But Dave hadn’t seen it before, so we got inexpensive tickets, and I’m glad we went because it was a very good production with terrific performances all around.

The performances were so well fleshed out that there were even times when I felt a bit sorry for Elyot and Amanda, trapped by their inability — or perhaps just unwillingness — to give or receive real love. There were times when you could smell the fear of intimacy that lurks underneath and behind everything they do. But just times. Most of the time they were being if anything even more self-centered and egotistical than I’d remembered.