THEATER REVIEW : ‘PRIVATE LIVES’ : Wicked Sparkle : Noel Coward’s mocking drawing-room farce is revived by Conejo Players--without Elizabeth Taylor or Joan Collins.

A favorite vehicle for glamorous--how can we put this--mature actresses, Noel Coward’s 1930 arch drawing-room farce “Private Lives” has been revived in recent years as a vehicle for both Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Collins.

Neither of those stars was available when the Conejo Players cast its version, but the Thousand Oaks production still sparkles, wickedly.

The play, directed by Terry Fishman, continues Sunday afternoons through Sept. 27.

Divorced for five years after three years of tumultuous marriage, Elyot and the former Amanda Chase find themselves unwittingly booked into the same French hotel while honeymooning with their new spouses.

Elyot, handsome but perhaps a bit too flippant for his own good, has married the giggly, much younger Sibyl.

And Amanda’s new husband is the stolid, humorless Victor.

Bright, educated, with too much money and Noel Coward’s words in their mouths, the four principals spend the next two hours pairing off in different combinations, hurling civilized epithets (“Swine!” “Malicious little vixen!”) at each other and occasionally knocking over a flowerpot or two.

That’s it, plot-wise.

The women change glamorous clothes several times, but most of the show’s impact comes from how effectively Coward’s words are slung.

Amanda is the play’s main character--neither Taylor nor Collins, after all, needs to choose vehicles in which she is less than unequivocal star. Patricia Adrian plays Amanda with ice in her veins, and has a fine time so doing.

Lisa Vanderpump gives Sibyl a sort of reserved Cockney accent, squealing like Minnie Mouse. She’s quite funny.

Jay Taylor and Barrett Latham almost pull off the sort of offhand suavity required of Elyot and Victor, but it probably would have helped had they been to the manor born--that or spent a lot of time in the company of wealthy English twits.

Think of Gig Young or Robert Wagner in roles that call for David Niven and you get the idea; these actors’ dinner jackets are strictly off-the-rack.

Melanie Maynard appears in an amusing cameo as a French maid.

This play was written at a time when educated people, such as Coward’s audience, were expected to parle a little Francais .

One other note: Much is made of the rather physical way in which Elyot and Amanda fight.

That and Elyot’s rather cavalier notion of a woman’s place are perhaps enough to cause modern-day, enlightened audiences to cringe.

It is here suggested that those so inclined drop their political correctness at the door while being thankful that we don’t live in the 1930s.

And keep in mind that Coward was mocking his characters.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Private Lives” continues Sunday afternoons through Sept. 27 at the Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks. All performances are at 2:30 p.m. All seats are $5. There are no reservations, so come early to be assured of a seat. For further information, call 495-3715.