Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface
Note on References
Introduction
1. The 1920s: From the ‘Breezy Wisdom of Youth’ to the International Set
2. The 1930s: Old and New Designs for Living
3. The 1940s: Wartime Entertainment, Post-war Discontent
4. The 1950s: Keeping a Public, Losing the Critics
5. The 1960s: A ‘Rendezvous with the Past’ and New Directions
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

This is the first book-length study to draw extensively on archive material to document Noël Coward's working methods and the care with which he revised and often rewrote his plays.

About the Author

Russell Jackson is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Reviews

A revealing and lovingly researched account of Noël Coward, the brilliant craftsman, as he devotedly drafts and redrafts his plays in an effort to satisfy his own innovative conception of theatrical form.
*Michael Cordner, University of York, UK*

Noël Coward himself would have scoffed at the idea of close critical exegesis of his plays. But the great, and often moving, thing about Russell Jackson’s book is its revelation that Coward wrote and re-wrote constantly, listened to criticism and advice from his inner circle – and from his producers Jack Wilson and, especially, Binkie Beaumont – and acted on it. He was a star writer and performer, but also a star collaborator, an essential virtue in theatre. Using previously unpublished archival material, and discussing such recently published plays as Semi-Monde and Volcano, Jackson provides fresh, crisp analysis of the writer’s craft and of the plays themselves, locating them deftly in their cultural habitat and period, and sensitively charting Coward’s perhaps unjust decline from popular and critical favour. And we learn so much – not least, that Madame Arcati’s real name (deleted) was Gladys Stephens!
*Michael Coveney, theatre critic, UK*

An invaluable addition to Coward scholarship. It combines incisive literary criticism with meticulous detective work, giving endless insights into a remarkable body of work. A joy for actors, directors and anyone who loves these plays.
*Christopher Luscombe, theatre director, UK*

A highly impressive contribution to scholarship on modern drama. It presents a wealth of new research and a very thorough, lucid and enjoyable account of Coward’s work as playwright across all the decades of his career.
*Theatre Notebook*

A fascinating academic insight into one of our most revered 20th-century playwrights …[Jackson’s] thorough research is brought alive in efficient, effective, readable prose … If you’re a student of Noël Coward and British playwriting in general, you really should seek out this specialist book.
*Everything Theatre*