NOEL COWARD
| (N.B. This is written on the assumption that interested persons will already know about Coward and his style.) |
| Noel Coward was one of the great entertainers of the twentieth century, chiefly as a dramatist, but also as a composer and actor on stage and screen. Though he wrote nothing specifically for radio, some of his least-performed works have been broadcast successfully: the rare one-act play STAR CHAMBER in 1940; THE MARQUISE and THE QUEEN WAS IN THE PARLOUR in a Coward festival in 1958; the satirical anti-war play POST MORTEM in 1976; and the late operetta AFTER THE BALL in 1999, as part of the Coward centenary celebrations. All the major plays have been broadcast, some repeatedly, in a succession of new productions (BLITHE SPIRIT, PRIVATE LIVES, THE VORTEX). BRIEF ENCOUNTER has been broadcast at least ten times, most recently under its original title, STILL LIFE. Both PRESENT LAUGHTER and THE VORTEX have been broadcast at least six times. Three of Coward's stories were adapted for radio in 1975 and a fourth, ME AND THE GIRLS, in 1976. |
| Coward himself appears not to have featured in any radio productions of his plays (or of anyone else's for that matter); but many star actors have done so, Sybil Thorndike, John Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft among them. Peggy Mount was a rousing Madame Arcati in the latest BLITHE SPIRIT (1983) and Bill Fraser a splendidly cynical butler in RELATIVE VALUES (1976). Coward is always good value and even in his lesser plays he can be relied upon to demonstrate that 'talent to amuse' for which he was so famous. |
Barry Pike
NOEL COWARD PLAYS (compiled by B.Pike, R.Bickerton and N.Deacon)
| Star Chamber | 18.5.40 rpt. 25.6.41 | |
| Brief Encounter | 29.9.47 | |
| Peace in our time | Home | 13.12.47 |
| Private Lives | 16.5.51 | |
| This happy breed | Home | 17.11.51 rpt 2.1.57 |
| Hay Fever | Home | 6.12.52 |
| Tonight at 8.30:Ways & Means/Astonished/Red Peppers | 9.12.53 | |
| Blithe Spirit | Home | 22.12.54 rpt. 16.6.56 |
| Present Laughter | 24.9.56 rpt. 10.6.57 (Gielgud) | |
| The Vortex | 29.9.58 | |
| The queen was in the parlour | Home | 4.10.58 |
| Private Lives | 6.10.58 | |
| Red Peppers/The Astonished Heart | 9.10.58 | |
| The Marquise | Home | 11.10.58 |
| Brief Encounter | Home | 29.11.58 |
| Three cowardly captains /C.Brahms/N.Sherrin | Home | 16.2.63 |
| Brief Encounter | Lt | 19.6.63 |
| Waiting in the wings | 26.12.63, rpt. 18.2.72 | |
| Quadrille | Home | 16.10.65 |
| Family Album | 22.12.65 | |
| Brief Encounter | Lt | 3.8.66 |
| The Vortex | R4 | 18.11.67 |
| Private Lives | R4 | 13.12.69 (Edward de Sousa) |
| Nude with Violin | R4 | 24.1.70 |
| The Marquise | R4 | 29.8.70 |
| Hay Fever | R4 | 18.12.71 rpt 28.12.83 |
| Fallen Angels | R4 | 14.4.73, rpt.7.7.76 & 4.5.85 |
| Present Laughter | R4 | 23.12.74,rpt.3.1.77 and 30.6.79 (Scofield) and 6.4.13 (Sam West) |
| Bon Voyage | R4 | 5.2.75 rpt. 20.10.77 and 13.12.89 |
| Pretty Polly Barlow | R4 | 12.2.75 rpt 26.10.77 & 13.12.89 |
| Star Quality | R4 | 19.2.75 |
| The Vortex | 9.6.75 rpt. 30.12.93 (Eliz. Sellers) | |
| Private Lives | R4 | 20.12.75 (Paul Scofield)rpt. 29.12.83 |
| Relative Values | R4 | 8.5.76 |
| Me and the girls | 20.5.76 | |
| Post Mortem | R4 | 12.12.76, rpt 13.7.85 |
| Design for Living | R4 | 27.12.76 |
| The girl who came to supper | 21.7.79 | |
| South Sea Bubble | R4 | 2.8.80 |
| Blithe Spirit | R4 | 27.12.83, rpt.4.5.85 |
| Brief Encounter | R4 | 29.12.83, rpt. 21.2.94 |
| Cavalcade | 23.4.86 | |
| A song at twilight | R4 | 25.3.89 |
| This happy breed | 2.9.89 rpt. 30.10.89 | |
| Waiting in the Wings | R4 | 14.4.90 |
| Design for Living | 22.12.91 rpt. 20.12.92 | |
| Hay Fever | 14.11.92 rpt. 26.7.93 | |
| Blithe Spirit | 29.12.92 rpt. 11.12.99 WS 55m | |
| The Vortex | 30.12.92 | |
| Hit the Heights | 27.12.93 | |
| Private Lives | R4 | 30.1.95 (Stephen Fry) |
| Noel Coward Diaries, read by Simon Callow. | 16,12,96 & 23.12.96 | |
| Bitter Sweet | 4.1.97 | |
| Red Peppers/Still Life(=Brief Encounter) | 31.12.98 | |
| Tonight at 8.30: Hands across the sea/Shadow play | 1.1.99 | |
| Tonight at 8.30: 2 more plays | 31.5.99 | |
| Easy Virtue | R3 | 26.12.99 |
| After the Ball | 27.12.99 | |
| Fumed Oak/Family Album | R4 | 1.1.00 (these 2 plays from "Tonight at 8.30") |
| The Vortex | R3 | 2.1.00 |
| Dates for Brief Encounter: | 2.9.47, 4.5.55, 2.10.58, 29.11.58, 19.6.63, 2.9.63, 6.6.64, 29.12.83, 21.2.94, 31.12.98 as Still Life. |
NOTES
PRESENT LAUGHTER....2013
Samuel West as Gary Essendine and Frances Barber as Monica, with Freddie Fox, Janie Dee, Kim Wall, Lily James, Susannah harker, Jonathan Coy, Anthony Calf, Hazel Ellerby, Sarah Badel. Producer Celia de Wolff. Repeated 31 Jan 2015. This is a partly autobiographical play in which a successful self-obsessed actor struggles to avoid the attentions of several potential seductresses as he prepares to embark on a tour of Africa. His long-suffering secretary Monica keeps him in order. Into the plot wander his estranged wife, a persistent young playwright, creating havoc. He also has to come to terms with turning 40.
Blithe Spirit....1985
4.5.1985. Paul Eddington/Julia McKenzie/Anna Massey/Peggy Mount. SNT.
South Sea Bubble....1980
2.8.1980 Moira Lister/Michael Denison/Hugh Burden. SNT.
Present Laughter....1976
30.6.1979 Paul Scofield/Fenella Fielding/Patricia Routledge. SNT.
Relative Values....1976
8.5.1976 Joyce Redman/Bill Fraser/Gwen Cherrell/John Rye. SNT.
Private Lives....1975
20.12.1975 Paul Scofield/Patricia Routledge. SNT.
Hay Fever....1971
18.12.1971 Peggy Ashcroft/Tony Britton/Millicent Martin/Julia Martin/Maurice Denham. SNT.
Updated 28 Apr 2013.
SNT = Saturday Night Theatre.
