Noël Coward Pořadí knih

In the twilight of his life, a cosmopolitan author navigates the complexities of love and commitment, torn between his long-standing wife of convenience and a passionate new relationship. The narrative explores themes of desire, regret, and the search for meaning, blending humor with poignant reflections on aging and relationships. As he grapples with his choices, the author’s journey reveals the bittersweet nature of life’s transitions and the emotional intricacies of human connection.

"Its fusion of passion and mischief remains striking and there is something undeniably heady about its celebration of a kind of sexual liberation that looks a lot like flippancy" - Evening Standard From 1930s bohemian Paris to the dizzying heights of Manhattan society, a tempestuous love triangle unravels between a vivacious interior designer, Gilda, playwright Leo and artist Otto - three people unashamedly and passionately in love with each other. But can such a lavish love affair survive the real world? Exploring themes of bisexuality, celebrity, success and self-obsession, Design for Living is a stylish and scandalous comedy, that is often revered as Coward's most controversial and risqué work. This new edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics series to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Coward's death and features a new introduction by Oliver Soden.

The roaring twenties. A world in flux. The magnetic Florence Lancaster draws people to her like moths to a flame. But when her son Nicky arrives home from Paris with an unexpected fiancée and a secret, it sets off a chain of events which threatens to pull them all into a maelstrom.Noël Coward's brilliantly witty and stinging portrait of the darkness beneath the glittering surface of the Jazz Age is as vivid today as when it premiered, causing a sensation and catapulting its young writer to his first great success.This revised edition was published to coincide with Chichester Festival Theatre's new production starring Lia Williams which opened in April 2023.

Genre: Comedy Characters: 3 males, 3 females Scenery: Interior Best friends now happily married to others, Julia and Jane both once counted the dashing Frenchman Maurice as their lover. Guess who's back in town and requesting the pleasure of the ladies company? Coward at his inimitable best, the story is a champagne cocktail of wit and charm.

Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925. A cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.

"Although Noël Coward's work as playwright, songwriter and actor of stage and screen has long been celebrated, his contributions to the British musical have largely been forgotten. This lack of attention is due in part because of the idiosyncratic nature of the works themselves that imitates the creative nature of Coward himself. This new anthology rectifies this omission from the musical theatre landscape and together demonstrates his adaptability, the extent of his creativity, and the myriad of styles and genres that constituted British musicals from the 1920s-1970s. Through flop shows at Drury Lane with Mary Martin through to his Broadway hits with Elaine Stritch, this anthology spans a variety of styles, from revue to musical comedy to operetta. The works in this volume will provide a contemporary critical introduction to the wide range of Coward's musical works, illustrating the breadth and depth of his work, and highlighting the diverse identities of the collaborators and performers with whom he worked. Though the style of these works varies, they are linked together by his creative thread, and his ability to craft barbed and witty observations of his social world. This volume is a timely portrait of Coward's oeuvre and its lasting influence on the wider world of British theatre. This Year of Grace (1928), also known as Cochran's 1928 Revue Bitter Sweet (1929) Words and Music (1932) Pacific 1860 (1946) Ace of Clubs (1949) Sail Away (1961) The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963)"-- Provided by publisher

A struggling widow turns to her ailing brother for financial help, as he plans to leave his fortune to one of her five adult children. This light-hearted tale explores the dynamics of a dysfunctional family, highlighting themes of greed and the allure of an easier life. Noël Coward weaves humor and drama into the family's interactions as they navigate their ambitions and relationships amidst the looming inheritance.

Hořká komedie Noëla Cowarda se odehrává o jednom červnovém víkendu v letním sídle manželů Blissových. Bývalá herečka Judith Blissová a její manžel, spisovatel David, tu tráví léto se svými dvěma dospělými dětmi - dcerou Sorel a synem Simonem. Každý z nich si nezávisle na sobě pozve na víkend hosta. Od okamžiku, kdy vyjde najevo, že jejich host nebude v domě tím jediným, hádky mezi sebestřednými členy rodiny převáží nad obyčejnou slušností, takže hosty přehlížejí, nebo si je jízlivě dobírají. Cowardovi se podařilo vytvořit atmosféru trapného dusna, které odlehčuje brilantním dialogem. Všichni Blissovi se chovají nevyzrále a nedospěle. S velkou intenzitou a rychlostí podléhají neexistujícím citům a ve svém uzavřeném světě vedle sebe žijí bez opravdového zájmu jeden o druhého. Za vším pozérstvím se však skrývá obyčejné a lidsky pochopitelné zoufalství z nenaplněnosti vlastního osudu.

Volume Four of Noel Coward's plays contains a selection of Coward's plays from the thirties and forties which includes Blithe Spirit, a comedy that centres around the spirit medium Madame Arcati. The play that mocks sudden death was produced at precisely the moment when bombs were bringing it to Britain: "I shall ever be grateful, for the almost psychic gift that enabled me to write Blithe Spirit in five days during one of the darkest years of the war." The play was for years the longest-running comedy in the history of British theatre.Present Laughter follows the life of Garry Essendine, a world-weary, middle-aged projection of the dilettante, debonair persona - self-obsessed and dressing-gowned who struts through the play like an educated peacock. It is a comedy about the 'theatricals' that Noel best knew and loved, and was originally a star vehicle for himself. It is the closest to an autobiographical play that Coward ever wrote.This Happy Breed is a saga of a lower middle-class family; and three shorter pieces fromTonight at 8.30- is a farce set in the South of France, and serves as an oblique tribute to Frederick Lonsdale; The Astonished Heart is about the decay of a psychiatrist's mind through personal sexual obsession. Red Peppers, which closes the volume, was a cynical tribute to the lost music halls of the First World War.

The definitive account, in his own words, of one of the most popular figures in British theatre. The second and concluding volume of Noël Coward's legendary autobiography includes Future Indefinite and the unfinished Past Unconditional. With his trademark wit, Coward delivers anecdotes about his travels in South America, Hollywood encounters with an array of contemporary stars and directors, and his later theatrical successes, including the Broadway triumph of Design For Living. The showbiz glamour aside, we also encounter a middle-aged man coming to terms with a world in disarray; his confused feelings towards the war and his own part in it exposing a more serious and thoughtful side to a performer and raconteur more usually associated with frivolity. Future Indefinite sees Coward transformed from a 'brazen odious little prodigy' into one of the most exuberant characters in British theatrical history. "His writing is superb, his precise languid drawl put down on the page" Daily Express