{"title":"Books by Noël Coward","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780573011740","title":"Hay Fever - A light comedy","description":"Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, David Bliss, a novelist and his wife Judith, a retired actress, find that an impossible dream when their high-spirited children Simon and Sorel appear with guests of their own. A housefull of drama waits to be ignited as misunderstandings and tempers flare. With Judith's new flame and David's newest literary 'inspiration' keeping company as the children follow suit, the Bliss family lives up to its name as the 'quiet weekend' comes to an exhausting and hilarious finale worthy of Feydeau.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292094378357,"sku":"9780573011740","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780573011740_064b94e8-5d7f-431e-988e-e11978c2127a.jpg?v=1786033339"},{"product_id":"9781350353718","title":"Private Lives","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Noel Coward's glittering gem\" - \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElyot Chase and Amanda Prynne, recently divorced from one another after a five-year marriage, coincidentally arrive at the same French hotel... where they are both honeymooning with their respective new spouses. Jarred by this encounter, Elyot and Amanda realise that they still very much horrified and fascinated by the other. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrequently performed and revived in the West End, \u003ci\u003ePrivate Lives\u003c\/i\u003e is comedy of manners that remains one of Coward's most popular plays.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics series to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Coward's death and features a new introduction by Simon Stephens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56297653240181,"sku":"9781350353718","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350353718_a92b2323-7715-46e5-989d-7b33dcb9c22a.jpg?v=1786018577"},{"product_id":"9781350354029","title":"Present Laughter","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"An honest, even profound reflection on the price of fame, with some genuine sexual frisson and an undercurrent of pathos.\"\u003ci\u003e - The Hollywood Reporter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the centre of his own universe sits matinee idol Garry Essendine: suave, hedonistic and too old, says his wife, to be having numerous affairs - his line of harmless, infatuated debutantes is largely tolerated but playing closer to home is not. Just before he escapes on tour to Africa the full extent of his misdemeanours is discovered... and all hell breaks loose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNoël Coward's \u003ci\u003ePresent Laughter\u003c\/i\u003e premiered in the early years of the Second World War just as such privileged lives were threatened with fundamental social change, and remains one of the playwright's most enduring hits.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics series to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Coward's death and features a new introduction by Russell Jackson.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298048455029,"sku":"9781350354029","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350354029_1f19b021-c6aa-437d-adca-216e8ca2dc96.jpg?v=1786018579"},{"product_id":"9781472589477","title":"Blithe Spirit","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe've stood up - we've lain down - we've concentrated. We've sat interminably while that tiresome old woman recited extremely unflattering verses at us. We're endured five \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eséances \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e- we've watched her fling herself in and out of trances until we're dizzy, and at the end of it all we find ourselves exactly where we were at the beginning.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eResearching for his new novel, Charles Condomine invites the implausible medium Madame Arcati to his house for a séance. Whilst consumed in a trance, Madame Arcati unwittingly summons the ghost of Charles's dead wife, Elvira.  Appearing only to Charles, Elvira soon makes a play to reclaim her husband, much to the chagrin of Charles's new wife, Ruth. One husband, two feuding wives and a whisper of mischief in the air - who will win in Coward's unworldly comedy?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten in 1941, \u003ci\u003eBlithe Spirit\u003c\/i\u003e remained the longest-running comedy in the history of the British theatre for three decades thereafter. Dealing with relationships on both sides of the grave, it is an enduring classic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA new edition of Coward's classic play published to coincide with the 2014 new West End revival at the Gielgud Theatre, starring Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301109903733,"sku":"9781472589477","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472589477_1594c0f6-8edc-4bc4-8c0c-86e35f3a97ab.jpg?v=1786020379"},{"product_id":"9780573010446","title":"Blithe Spirit","description":"Written in 1941 this book remians the longest-running comedy in the history of the British theatre for three decades.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311813079413,"sku":"9780573010446","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780573010446_685ceb80-0254-4495-807a-94ee28d3dfe2.jpg?v=1786015081"},{"product_id":"brief-encounter","title":"Brief Encounter","description":"\u003cp\u003eNoël Coward’s Brief Encounter is remembered as one of the most haunting love stories on screen ever. Drawing on the characteristic wit and musicality of Kneehigh, Emma Rice, former Joint Artistic Director of the Company, has adapted Coward’s classic 1945 screenplay, and the one-act play \u003ci\u003eStill Life\u003c\/i\u003e on which it was based, into a richly theatrical, imaginative and vibrant piece of theatre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom an original idea by David Pugh \u0026amp; Dafydd Rogers, Kneehigh’s production received its world premiere in 2008. This edition is published to coincide with the production’s run live at the Empire Cinema in London’s West End for 2018, co-produced by Steve and Jenny Wiener and The Old Vic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith an updated foreword by Emma Rice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Surely the most enchanting work of stagecraft ever inspired by a movie.’ Ben Brantley, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Moving, funny, gripping and even at its most inventive, true to the original and its all-English heart’\u003ci\u003e The Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483470143861,"sku":"9781350083578","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350083578.jpg?v=1786178637"},{"product_id":"blithe-spirit","title":"Blithe Spirit","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Some of [Coward's] most sparkling dialogue ever... This play is about something substantial - the way past relationships come back to haunt us - but it's the gossamer-like nature of the piece, its sheer levity of spirit, that makes it such an enduring achievement\" - \u003ci\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen socialite and novelist Charles Condomine  attends a séance hosted by eccentric medium Madame Arcati, he's only hoping to gather material for his next book: he never expected to be haunted by his temperamental ex-wife, Elvira. Can Charles keep this willful spirit at bay, or will his new marriage to his second wife, Ruth, come to an untimely demise?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith unforgettable characters, witty dialogue and farcical situations, \u003ci\u003eBlithe Spirit\u003c\/i\u003e ran for decades on the West End, becoming one of the most well-known plays in the British canon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics series to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Coward's death and features a new introduction by Arianne Johnson Quinn.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483547836789,"sku":"9781350353497","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350353497.jpg?v=1786178726"},{"product_id":"tonight-at-8-30","title":"Tonight at 8.30","description":"\u003cp\u003eWritten as a vehicle for Coward’s own acting talents alongside his frequent stage partner Gertrude Lawrence, \u003ci\u003eTonight at 8:30 \u003c\/i\u003eis Coward’s ambitious series of ten one-act plays which saw him breathe new life into the one-act form. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom 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 \u003ci\u003eRed Peppers \u003c\/i\u003emusic-hall show, witness a bankrupt couple use all \u003ci\u003eWays and Means\u003c\/i\u003e to scheme their way out of debt, and break your heart along with Laura in the famous \u003ci\u003eStill Life\u003c\/i\u003e, the original version of the film \u003ci\u003eBrief Encounter.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst 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 \u003ci\u003eTonight  at 8.30\u003c\/i\u003e!\"'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Letters of No\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eël Coward\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition of \u003ci\u003eTonight at 8.30\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484268372341,"sku":"9781472589439","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472589439.jpg?v=1786266321"},{"product_id":"still-life","title":"Still Life","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57490206851445,"sku":"9780573022555","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780573022555.jpg?v=1786442091"},{"product_id":"hay-fever","title":"Hay Fever","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"This 1925 comedy of manners that's funny yet also unorthodox and unsettling... a celebration of abnormality and at the same time a disquieting study of both the pleasures and the pains of not being able to restrain oneself.\" - \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen four guests, all invited by different members of the Bliss family, arrive for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead, they're expecting a idyllic retreat. But this peaceful promise is quickly trounced when the self-absorbed eccentricities of the Blisses are trained on the guests, who leave the country mansion humiliated and embarrassed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst produced in 1925, \u003ci\u003eHay Fever\u003c\/i\u003e is a technical masterpiece, seamlessly combining high farce with a comedy of manners, and delivering Coward his first major commercial success.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics series to coincide with the 125th anniversary of Coward’s birth and features a new introduction by Michael Billington.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57492278542709,"sku":"9781350354111","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350354111.jpg?v=1786529111"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-noel-coward.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}