NOEL Coward's Private Lives is one of those plays beloved of amateur dramatic societies.

It is a favourite which, in unskilled hands, can seem stilted and dated.

Set in the 1930s and reflecting the leisure-filled lives of the upper class English, it can seem a play out of touch with modern times. So it was with interest that I watched how the cast and Octagon director Mark Babych approached the task of bringing it to a 21st century audience. I was impressed!

While remaining faithful to the spirit of the play and setting it in its correct Art Deco-themed period, they managed to get past the veneer of stilted accents and 1930s sophistication to universal truths about life, love and, above all, passion. The play tells the story of Amanda and Elyot, who were once married and wildly in love but whose passion turned to bitterness and divorce.

They both remarried and, in the most unbeliveable of co-incidences, end up spending their honeymoons, not only in the same hotel, but in adjoining rooms.

Within seconds of laying eyes on one another Amanda, the excellently elegant Susie Trayling, and Elyot, a suitably Cowardian Stephen Beckett, have rekindled their love and headed off into the sunset together.

Despite vows not to repeat the rows which marred their relationship first time round, you just know the passion which created such a spark between them will not allow them to settle down to easy domesticity, and their volatile partnership provides a sharp contrast with the calm companionship they were set to settle for with their alternative spouses.

Beckett -- best known for playing the dishy Dr Matt Ramsden in Coronation Street -- and Trayling manage the ebb and flow of their tempestuous relationship very well, building the tension to breaking point and finally coming to a realisation about themselves and their need for each other.

Despite a tentative start to the bittersweet comedy, The drama is delightfully set on a simple, yet elegant stage created by designer Nancy Surman and, when passion turns to violence, a fight scene co-ordinated by Ian Stapleton has you ready to rush from your seat to pull them apart.

The drama is delightfully set on a simple, yet elegant stage created by designer Nancy Surman and, when passion turns to violence, a fight scene co-ordinated by Ian Stapleton has you ready to rush from your seat to pull them apart.

Joanne Rowe