Noël Coward Book order (chronological)

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.

Noël Coward's contributions as a playwright, songwriter, and actor have been widely celebrated, yet his impact on British musical theatre has often been overlooked. This anthology addresses that oversight, showcasing Coward's adaptability and the diverse styles that characterized British musicals from the 1920s to the 1970s. It features his works ranging from unsuccessful shows at Drury Lane with Mary Martin to Broadway successes with Elaine Stritch, encompassing various forms like revue, musical comedy, and operetta. The collection offers a contemporary critical introduction to Coward's musical repertoire, highlighting the breadth of his creativity and the varied identities of his collaborators and performers. Despite the differing styles, a common thread runs through these works—Coward's sharp and witty social observations. This volume serves as a timely exploration of Coward's legacy and its enduring influence on British theatre, featuring notable works such as This Year of Grace (1928), Bitter Sweet (1929), Words and Music (1932), Pacific 1860 (1946), Ace of Clubs (1949), Sail Away (1961), and The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963).

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

"This 1925 comedy of manners that's funny yet also unorthodox and unsettling... a celebration of abnormality and at the same time a disquieting study of both the pleasures and the pains of not being able to restrain oneself." - Evening Standard When four guests, all invited by different members of the Bliss family, arrive for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead, they're expecting a idyllic retreat. But this peaceful promise is quickly trounced when the self-absorbed eccentricities of the Blisses are trained on the guests, who leave the country mansion humiliated and embarrassed. First produced in 1925, Hay Fever is a technical masterpiece, seamlessly combining high farce with a comedy of manners, and delivering Coward his first major commercial success. This new edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics series to coincide with the 125th anniversary of Coward's birth and features a new introduction by Michael Billington.

Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne, divorced from one another five years previously, arrive coincidentally at the same French hotel. They are both honeymooning with their respective new spouses, but find that the old bond between them cannot be swept aside. schovat popis

Bound in publisher's original gold cloth printed with design and housed in a matching paper-covered slipcase. Selected by Michael Cox. Illustrated by Helen Smithson. Preface by Grahm Payn and Sheridan Morley. Published by arrangement with the Estate of Noel Coward and Methuen London.

Doran, Amanda-Jane, Punchlines - 150 years of humorous writing in Punch. London, HarperCollins, 1991. 26cm. XII, 371 pages. Original hardcover with dustjacket in protective mylar. Excellent, close to new condition with only minor signs of external wear. Includes work by authors / comedians such as: John Bentjemen / Mary Dunn / Graham Greene / Melvyn bragg / Stevie Smith / William Boyd / Robert Graves / etc.

These diaries chronicle the last thirty years of the author's life.

The third volume of Coward's plays contains some of his best work from the thirties.

"An honest, even profound reflection on the price of fame, with some genuine sexual frisson and an undercurrent of pathos." - The Hollywood Reporter At the centre of his own universe sits matinee idol Garry Essendine: suave, hedonistic and too old, says his wife, to be having numerous affairs - his line of harmless, infatuated debutantes is largely tolerated but playing closer to home is not. Just before he escapes on tour to Africa the full extent of his misdemeanours is discovered... and all hell breaks loose. Noël Coward's Present Laughter premiered in the early years of the Second World War just as such privileged lives were threatened with fundamental social change, and remains one of the playwright's most enduring hits. 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 Russell Jackson.

"I will 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." -Noel Coward. Written in 1941, 'Blithe Spirit' remained the longest-running comedy in British Theatre for three decades. Plotted around the central role of one of Coward's best loved characters, a spirit medium Madame Arcati (originally performed by Margaret Rutherford) Coward's play is an escapist comedy about a man whose two previous wives return to haunt him.

Daß der Bühnenautor Noël Coward, bei dem Generationen junger Dramatiker in England und Amerika in die Lehre gingen, auch ein brillanter Romancier war, beweist sein hier vorliegender erster Roman. Samolo, eine imaginäre Insel im Pazifik, erwartet den Besuch von Königin Elizabeth und Prinz Philip. Noch bevor die hohen Gäste den Fuß an Land gesetzt haben, beginnt unter den Bewohnern der Insel, Eingeborenen wie Briten, der Kampf um gesellschaftlichen Erfolg. Ein turbulenter Jahrmarkt der Eitelkeiten hebt an, bei dem die bildhübsche, die Männer an sich fesselnde Herzogin von Fowey alle anderen aussticht. Eine freche Satire auf die «gute Gesellschaft» Englands voller Übermut, Herz, Witz und Charme.