No one in the twentieth century used language with the same precision and wit as Noel Coward. In his plays, his verse, his song lyrics, stories and in everyday life, he chose his words to uniquely stylish and truthful effect.
This affectionate portrait of Coward's life includes not only his best-loved witticisms and lyrics, but also excerpts from private papers and hidden gems from unpublished material. Barry Day Delves into the whole range of Coward's talents, as well as his thoughts on a wide variety of subjects - including the theatre, England, the Arts, religion, love and death -...
No one in the twentieth century used language with the same precision and wit as Noel Coward. In his plays, his verse, his song lyrics, stories and...
Private Lives is one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, meet by chance, reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear and a roundelay of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then apart, and new partnerships are formed.
Private Lives is one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses ...
First produced in 1925, Hay Fever is technically a masterpiece. A comedy of bad manners which starts with the arrival of four guests, invited independently by different members of the Bliss family for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead. The promise of an idyllic and peaceful weekend is quickly trounced by the self-absorbed eccentricities of the family who leave the guests to slink away humiliated, embarrassed and abandoned.It does not date it is in the highest mood of fantastic comedy, it is deliciously heartless and therefore delicioiusly alive and fresh The Times
First produced in 1925, Hay Fever is technically a masterpiece. A comedy of bad manners which starts with the arrival of four guests, invited independ...
This Happy Breed covers twenty years in the life of the Frank and Ethel Bibbons and their children, from the end of World War I to the beginning of World War II. On one level the story is the chronicle of a middle class family. They haven't done well in the years between the wars, but in the face of another conflict, family unity spans the chasm between the generations. At another level, this is the story of England, torn at times by the conflicts of its own progress, but quietly firm in its historical moments of crisis.
This Happy Breed covers twenty years in the life of the Frank and Ethel Bibbons and their children, from the end of World War I to the beginning of Wo...
First published in 1960, Pomp and Circumstance, Coward's only novel, was greeted with wide critical acclaim. 'A South Sea Bubble of a book it is, with a Royal Visit expected on the Island of Samolo, and the narrator, a mother of three, dealing with everything from chicken-pox to the amours of a visiting Duchess' (Daily Telegraph); 'If there is anywhere on earth where the old Coward world still credibly lingers on, it is probably a fairly peaceful tropical colony ruled over by a British Governor General . . . Coward's long cast list might have walked out of one of his better...
First published in 1960, Pomp and Circumstance, Coward's only novel, was greeted with wide critical acclaim. 'A South Sea Bubble of a book ...
This one-volume edition contains the complete collection of Coward's twenty short stories, spanning fifty years of his working life. Written with Coward's inimitable poise and wit, the stories variously describe back-stage intrigues, Hollywood champagne breakfasts, suburban romances and gossip round the captain's table. He reveals himself as a consummate prose stylist demonstrating why, for all his success in virtually every other field of entertainment, he returned again and again to the short story.
This one-volume edition contains the complete collection of Coward's twenty short stories, spanning fifty years of his working life. Written with C...
'In my time I have said some noteworthy and exceptionally memorable things' Nol Coward.
A delightful and revealing collection of quotations from the master wordsmith, Nol Coward. In his plays, verse, song lyrics, stories and everyday life, he chose his words to uniquely stylish and truthful effect.
This insightful portrait includes not only his best-loved witticisms, bons mots and lyrics but also excerpts from his private papers and hidden gems from unpublished material. Barry Day delves into the whole range of Coward's talents, as well as his thoughts on theatre,...
'In my time I have said some noteworthy and exceptionally memorable things' Nol Coward.
Lavishly illustrated and annotated, this first and definitive collection of letters to and from Coward provides a divine portrait of an age, from the Blitz to the Ritz and beyond. The incomparable Noel Coward loved to correspond with friends, enemies, the famous and infamous, the talented and the powerful, including Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill, Greta Garbo, Laurence Olivier, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Lawrence of Arabia, Somerset Maugham, and many more. Granted unlimited access to the Coward archive, Barry Day presents many never-published letters and has unearthed new,...
Lavishly illustrated and annotated, this first and definitive collection of letters to and from Coward provides a divine portrait of an age, from the ...
Inthe 1920s and 1930s Noel Coward mastered and defined the art of therevue sketch - short and often topical or satirical stage pieces, manyof which were a lead-in to his famous songs. He wrote these sketchesfor the top revues of the 1920s and 1930s, including London Calling (1923) and Cochrane's Revue of 1931. This volume collects Coward's bestand most witty pieces, including Rain Before Seven, the only sketch heperformed with Gertrude Lawrence, and the hilarious parody, Some OtherPrivate Lives, in which Coward burlesques his own famous play, PrivateLives. Also...
Inthe 1920s and 1930s Noel Coward mastered and defined the art of therevue sketch - short and often topical or satirical stage pieces, manyof which...
