Description
Book SynopsisNoÃl Coward combines a fresh appraisal of major plays by one of the twentieth centuryâs most popular dramatists, with an account of critical and theatrical responses to his life and work.
For almost the entirety of the twentieth century, NoÃl Coward was one of the UKâs most popular and celebrated playwrights. Refracting, rather than directly reflecting the social and personal issues of his time, his plays reveal tensions and contradictions in the theatre world that surrounded them. As well as critical responses to his work and the key themes that it foregrounds, seminal productions of The Vortex, Private Lives, Design for Living, Hay Fever, Blithe Spirit and more are examined to further elaborate on the radicalism of his approach to personal and social relationships, and the ways in which directors and actors have sought to achieve a sense of the disquiet felt by critics and audiences when they were first produced. This book
