British Playwrights - Literary Biography, Theater Biography - Playwrights

Coward

Name: Coward
Author: Sheridan Morley
ISBN: 9781904341888

by Sheridan Morley

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Overview

Noel Coward (1899-1973), personified the elegant, witty and faintly outrageous way of life of the upper classes between the wars. He achieved an early fame starring in his own play The Vortex in 1924. This success was consolidated with his plays Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1930) and Blithe Spirit (1941). A patriotic vein evident in his stage extravaganza Cavalcade (1931) deepened with his performance in the wartime film In Which We Serve (1942). In the same period his play Still Life was adapted into the film Brief Encounter, still regarded as a British classic to this day.

He responded to the changes of the post-war world through the medium of cabaret performance and character acting while still writing hit musicals. His songs such as 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' and 'Stately Homes', endure as mementos to his brilliant talent.

Synopsis

Accessible and affordable illustrated biography

About the Author, Sheridan Morley

Sheridan Morley was one of Britain's foremost theatre critics, broadcasters and biographers. He has written the first biographies of David Niven and James Mason, as well as the lives of many other actors including his father, Robert Morley, and his grandmother, Dame Gladys Cooper. His authorised biography of John Gielgud was published to much critical acclaim in 2001.