‘Fallen Angels’ Stars Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara on Bringing a Little-Seen Noël Coward Comedy Back to Life

“This play is wildly transgressive in that sense,” says Byrne. “When we sat around the rehearsal table, we ended up having discussions about the nature of sexuality and romantic relationships. People have feelings about it, and they have opinions on it—it’s an age-old part of our culture.”

Photo: Evan Zimmerman

“To think that there will be people in the audience even now who really can’t stand the thought of what these women are up to in this play, and especially how it ends…” muses O’Hara. (At one point, her Julia pointedly remarks on how unfair it is that “men should have the monopoly on wild oats.”) “I just love pushing on that edge,” she goes on. “I love being part of something that says, I’d like you to be surprised. If you’re still surprised, then let’s keep going. Let’s keep pushing it.’”

Coward’s insight into women’s societal repression has surprised some, given he was still in his early 20s when he wrote the play. But O’Hara credits his intuition to his childhood in the theater, where he spent a great deal of time among women who spoke freely with one another about their experiences.

Indeed, Julia and Jane discuss everything with each other—and with increasing familiarity—as they embark on what O’Hara calls “a great, saucy little night,” waiting for Maurice to arrive and happen to find them dining luxuriously in gorgeous gowns. As emotions heighten and the champagne is drained, Coward transforms the drawing room into a battleground where the women trade insults and grievances. At times, the two actresses struggle to keep from breaking onstage.

“Every single night, it’s sort of a new adventure—what someone will throw,” O’Hara says. “We’re doing something different every night. We’re just trying not to laugh at each other.”

Yet for all the show’s fizzy funniess, its more sober ideas sit just beneath the bubbly surface—among them, both women’s very real desire for attention from their husbands. “[The play] was just thought of as fiction, but I think there’s a wonderful little stab of realism,” O’Hara says. “We’re trying to tell you what we need, and you just didn’t hear it.”