It’s odd kissing Toby Stephens with his wife in the cast, says Private Lives actress Anna Chancellor

Anna Chancellor has spoken of the “odd” feeling of kissing former Bond villain Toby Stephens on stage — in front of his wife.

Chancellor, 48, who played “Duckface” in Four Weddings and a Funeral, acts out steamy scenes with Stephens as a divorced couple getting back together in the Noël Coward play Private Lives in the West End.

But Anna-Louise Plowman, Stephens’s real wife, also plays the on-stage wife he betrays — adding a curious twist to scenes which descend from passion into violence.

Chancellor said: “I felt odd at times. But Toby’s wife is a wonderful person. She has never ever been anything other than as cool as a cucumber and completely generous. She never turned a hair.”

The actress said the character of feisty, funny and unreliable Amanda was “a once in a lifetime” role that she almost felt she was born to play: “I identify with every line, I’m afraid.”

And she admitted the scenes where she and Stephens hit each other seemed “quite pertinent” in the wake of discussions of domestic violence after Charles Saatchi was pictured holding Nigella Lawson by the throat.

“Coward knows he’s writing a sick relationship. He doesn’t think he’s writing a healthy relationship,” she said. “These people are out of control.”

The opening night at the Gielgud Theatre drew a star-studded audience to catch Chancellor and Stephens reprise the play which was a hit at Chichester — and in which Stephens’s parents, Sir Robert Stephens and Dame Maggie Smith, once played the sparring couple.

Minnie Driver said it was “absolutely brilliant”, adding: “I liked the direction and I thought Anna and Toby were excellent. It was so clever — the very best of Coward.”

Tara Fitzgerald, Lesley Sharp and Julian Sands agreed and Helena Bonham Carter added: “I loved it. They were great together.”

Wire star Dominic West, 43, said it absolutely lived up to expectations: “It was funny and you can’t go wrong with a 25-minute second half.

“It’s the perfect play and they were the perfect people doing it. I’ve never seen it before so it was great to see it.”

Novelist Kathy Lette added: “In the week of Wimbledon this is the Wimbledon of wit, they were lobbing banter back and forth. It’s the perfect play to have on during the tennis.”