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Tonight at 8.30 - (Modern Plays) by Noël Coward (Paperback)

Tonight at 8.30 - (Modern Plays) by  Noël Coward (Paperback) - 1 of 1
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About this item

Highlights

  • 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.
  • About the Author: Noël Coward was born in 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex.
  • 304 Pages
  • Drama, European
  • Series Name: Modern Plays

Description



Book Synopsis



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.



Review Quotes




. . . the nine plays . . . not only prove unexpectedly nourishing, but also reveal a lot about the author himself . . . he had an extraordinary facility with dialogue, grasped the comic potential of adverbs and used music inventively . . . You may not end the day liking Coward the man, but these plays . . . confirm that he was a master of the short form.
Guardian

Here are broken hearts, crazed middle-aged longings and doomed middle-class infidelities, the spectre of financial ruin, the ghastliness of marital bickering and the yearning for what has been and gone, the longing to arrest time and recover lost youth. These themes are handled with a light, sometimes brutally funny touch and are brought home at points by dreamy flourishes of make-believe.
Telegraph

It is not every day that we get such a feast of pure entertainment. . . . There is a little something for everyone. From vaudeville to satire; from love at first sight to a rather jovial funeral. . . . What better way to celebrate Noel Coward than with these rarely seen short plays? . . . A treat I would recommend.
Whatsonstage



About the Author



Noël Coward was born in 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex. He made his name as a playwright with The Vortex (1924), in which he also appeared. His numerous other successful plays included Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1933), Design for Living (1933) and Blithe Spirit (1941). During the war he wrote screenplays such as Brief Encounter (1944) and In Which We Serve (1942). In the fifties he began a new career as a cabaret entertainer. He published volumes of verse and a novel (Pomp and Circumstance, 1960), two volumes of autobiography and four volumes of short stories: To Step Aside (1939), Star Quality (1951), Pretty Polly Barlow (1964) and Bon Voyage (1967). He was knighted in 1970 and died three years later in Jamaica.

Dimensions (Overall): 7.81 Inches (H) x 5.06 Inches (W) x .64 Inches (D)
Weight: .66 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 304
Genre: Drama
Sub-Genre: European
Series Title: Modern Plays
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Theme: English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Format: Paperback
Author: Noël Coward
Language: English
Street Date: May 15, 2014
TCIN: 1004200336
UPC: 9781472589439
Item Number (DPCI): 247-19-9554
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details

Estimated ship dimensions: 0.64 inches length x 5.06 inches width x 7.81 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.66 pounds
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