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Private Lives an Intimate Comedy in Three Acts

Literature & Fiction

Coward, Sir Noel

Dramas & Plays

Kessinger Publishing

"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.

Blithe Spirit

Samuel French Ltd.

First produced in 1925, Hay Fever is technically a masterpiece. A comedy of bad manners which starts with the arrival of four guests, invited independently by different members of the Bliss family for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead. The promise of an idyllic and peaceful weekend is quickly trounced by the self-absorbed eccentricities of the family who leave the guests to slink away humiliated, embarrassed and abandoned."It does not dateâ€¦ it is in the highest mood of fantastic comedy, it is deliciously heartless and therefore delicioiusly alive and fresh" The Times

Hay Fever - A light comedy

Samuel. French

Format Paperback Publisher Samuel French Ltd

Relative Values

This Happy Breed covers twenty years in the life of the Frank and Ethel Bibbons and their children, from the end of World War I to the beginning of World War II. On one level the story is the chronicle of a middle class family. They haven't done well in the years between the wars, but in the face of another conflict, family unity spans the chasm between the generations. At another level, this is the story of England, torn at times by the conflicts of its own progress, but quietly firm in its historical moments of crisis.

This Happy Breed - A Play

Comedy / 4m, 14f / Int. 
Coward's tribute to theatre is set in a retirement home for actresses, all former stars. Jealousies abound, especially between Lotta and another who was also married to her former husband. A tragedy brings them to their senses and a new solarium brings out everyone's good nature. Lotta chooses to stay with her old friends rather than go live with her son. 
"Should rejoice those of us who still have hearts." London News Chronicle.

Waiting in the Wings

Characters: 6 male, 5 female Interior Set One of the Tonight at 8:30 series, a success in London and New York. The movie Brief Encounter was based on this play. In a suburban rail station, Dr. Harvey removes a cinder from Laura's eye and they fall in love. Subsequent weekly meetings over tea, scenes debating respectability or love, and some sentimental moments transpire before they decide they must part forever. He is accepting a faraway post and she must return to a circumspect life. At their last meeting, a chattering friend swoops down and there is no chance for a final goodbye.

Still Life: a play in five scenes (from "Tonight at 8:30")

First produced in 1925, "Hay Fever" is technically a masterpiece. A comedy of bad manners which starts with the arrival of four guests, invited independently by different members of the Bliss family for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead. The promise of an idyllic and peaceful weekend is quickly trounced by the self-absorbed eccentricities of the family who leave the guests to slink away humiliated, embarrassed and abandoned.""It does not date… it is in the highest mood of fantastic comedy, it is deliciously heartless and therefore delicioiusly alive and fresh" "The Times

Hay Fever

Literary Licensing, LLC

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