Coward Plays: 7: Quadrille; 'Peace in Our Time'; Tonight at 8.30 (iii)

Coward Plays: 7: Quadrille; 'Peace in Our Time'; Tonight at 8.30 (iii)
ISBN-10
1472503341
ISBN-13
9781472503343
Category
Drama
Pages
320
Language
English
Published
2013-11-04
Publisher
A&C Black
Author
Noël Coward

Description

The Seventh volume in the Coward Collection. On Quadrille: "Miss Fontanne plays the madcap Marchioness with the crackle and sheen of a five-pound note. Her eyes mock marvelously, her voice cuts like a knife into a wedding cake, and the scene in Act Three, on the eve of her elopement with Mr. Lung, is as delicious as crushed ice." Evening Standard, 1952. "The idea of Peace in Our Time", Coward wrote "was conceived in Paris shortly after the Liberation. . . I began to suspect that the physical effect of four years intermittent bombing is far less damaging to the intrinsic character of a nation than the spiritual effect of four years enemy occupation." The volume also contains four pieces from the Tonight at 8.30 sequence: We Were Dancing "provides a marvelously compact illustration of the way the English public school spirit prevails even in moments of strenuous passion." "Shadow Play is a musical fantasy. . . which gave Gertie and me a chance to sing as romantically as we could, dance in the moonlight and, we hoped, convince the audience that we were very fascinating indeed"; and "Family Album - a sly satire on Victorian hypocrisy, adorned with an unobtrusive but agreeable musical score. It was stylised both in its decor and its performance, was a joy to play and provided the whole talented company with good parts." Star Chamber, closely based on Coward's experiences trying to co-ordinate his Actors' Orphanage charity committee, is published here for the first time.

Other editions

Similar books

  • Titus Andronicus: Revised Edition
    By Jonathan Bate

    A pioneering study by Philip Timberlake, long ignored by mainstream scholarship, revealed the huge difference in the number of lines with feminine endings ...

  • Winter Hill
    By Timberlake Wertenbaker

    Questioning the lengths people should go in the name of a cause, Timberlake Wertenbaker's Winter Hill premiered at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, in May 2017.

  • The Love of the Nightingale
    By Timberlake Wertenbaker

    The Love of the Nightingale

  • Our Country's Good
    By Timberlake Wertenbaker

    Based on a historical incident.

  • Imaginary Betrayals: Subjectivity and the Discourses of Treason in Early Modern England
    By Karen Cunningham

    Karen Cunningham looks at contemporary records of three prominent cases in order to demonstrate the degree to which the imagination was used to prove treason: the 1542 attainder of Katherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, charged with ...

  • A Private Function
    By Alan Bennett

    This classic collection contains a new essay by Alan Bennett, besides the original introductions to A Private Function, Prick Up Your Ears and The Madness of King George.

  • Invisible Friends
    By Alan Ayckbourn

    When Lucy, an ordinary teenager, feels ignored by her family, she brings her childhood fantasy friend Zara back to life, only to have her materialize and bring with her a dream family for Lucy

  • Performing King Lear: Gielgud to Russell Beale
    By Jonathan Croall

    Its greatest pleasure comes from Mr Plummer's taking you step by step through Lear's enormous changes in temperament and insight, and justifying every turn on both an intellectual and gut level. I have never seen an audience so ...

  • The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
    By William Shakespeare

    Cast: Matte Osian (Richard), Barry Smith (Bolingbroke), Frank O'Donnell (Gaunt), Kadina de Elejalde (Queen), Robert F. McCafferty (Northumberland), David W. Frank (York). Running time 93 minutes. An independent film shot on a disused ...

  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two: The Official Playscript of the Original West End Production
    By J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany

    This edition also includes useful background information including the Potter family tree and a timeline of events from the Wizarding World prior to the beginning of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.