Search results for ""author noël coward""
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Blithe Spirit
We've stood up - we've lain down - we've concentrated. We've sat interminably while that tiresome old woman recited extremely unflattering verses at us. We're endured five séances - we've watched her fling herself in and out of trances until we're dizzy, and at the end of it all we find ourselves exactly where we were at the beginning. Researching for his new novel, Charles Condomine invites the implausible medium Madame Arcati to his house for a séance. Whilst consumed in a trance, Madame Arcati unwittingly summons the ghost of Charles's dead wife, Elvira. Appearing only to Charles, Elvira soon makes a play to reclaim her husband, much to the chagrin of Charles's new wife, Ruth. One husband, two feuding wives and a whisper of mischief in the air - who will win in Coward's unworldly comedy? Written in 1941, Blithe Spirit remained the longest-running comedy in the history of the British theatre for three decades thereafter. Dealing with relationships on both sides of the grave, it is an enduring classic. A new edition of Coward's classic play published to coincide with the 2014 new West End revival at the Gielgud Theatre, starring Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati.
£12.82
Samuel French Ltd Still Life: Play
£12.14
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Tonight at 8.30
Written as a vehicle for Coward’s own acting talents alongside his frequent stage partner Gertrude Lawrence, Tonight at 8:30 is Coward’s ambitious series of ten one-act plays which saw him breathe new life into the one-act form. From vaudeville to satire, from farce to intricate comedy of manners, from melodrama to romance, these plays span the full, glorious range of Coward’s writing. Peep through your fingers at the chaotic Red Peppers music-hall show, witness a bankrupt couple use all Ways and Means to scheme their way out of debt, and break your heart along with Laura in the famous Still Life, the original version of the film Brief Encounter. First performed in London in 1936, the plays perfectly showcase Coward's talents as a playwright, providing a sparkling, fast-paced and remarkably varied selection of theatrical gems. Coward wrote of the first series of three plays with characteristic delight: ‘They are all brilliantly written, exquisitely directed, and I am bewitching in all of them.’ Gertrude Lawrence wrote to Coward in 1947, ‘Dearest Noël, wherever I go . . . all I hear is "please revive Tonight at 8.30!"' All ten plays are collected together into this volume that features both Coward’s own preface and an introduction by Barry Day, Coward expert and editor of The Letters of Noël Coward. This new edition of Tonight at 8.30 is published to coincide with English Touring Theatre and the Nuffield Southampton's revival for the first time in the UK since Coward starred in them in 1936.
£12.82
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Private Lives
"Noel Coward's glittering gem" - The Times Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne, recently divorced from one another after a five-year marriage, coincidentally arrive at the same French hotel... where they are both honeymooning with their respective new spouses. Jarred by this encounter, Elyot and Amanda realise that they still very much horrified and fascinated by the other. Frequently performed and revived in the West End, Private Lives is comedy of manners that remains one of Coward's most popular plays. 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 Simon Stephens.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Blithe Spirit
"Some of [Coward's] most sparkling dialogue ever... This play is about something substantial - the way past relationships come back to haunt us - but it's the gossamer-like nature of the piece, its sheer levity of spirit, that makes it such an enduring achievement" - The Telegraph When socialite and novelist Charles Condomine attends a séance hosted by eccentric medium Madame Arcati, he's only hoping to gather material for his next book: he never expected to be haunted by his temperamental ex-wife, Elvira. Can Charles keep this willful spirit at bay, or will his new marriage to his second wife, Ruth, come to an untimely demise? With unforgettable characters, witty dialogue and farcical situations, Blithe Spirit ran for decades on the West End, becoming one of the most well-known plays in the British canon. 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 Arianne Johnson Quinn.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Present Laughter
"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.
£10.99