Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Coward The Playwright, Paperback / softback Book

Coward The Playwright Paperback / softback

Part of the Biography and Autobiography series

Paperback / softback

Description

A reissue in hardback of critic John Lahr's famous 1982 study of Noel Coward's plays "Noel Coward," said Terence Rattigan, "is simply a phenomenon, and one that is unlikely to occur ever again in theatre history." A phenomenon he certainly was, and it is part of John Lahr's purpose in this book to show how that phenomenon called "Noel Coward" was largely Coward's own careful creation.

Lahr's penetrating critical study of Coward's drama investigates all the major and minor plays of "The Master".

Private Lives, Design for Living and Hay Fever make a fascinating group of "Comedies of Bad Manners".

Blithe Spirit and Relative Values raise the "Ghost in the Fun Machine".

Lahr then goes on to explore the "politics of charm" oozing through The Vortex, Easy Virtue and Present Laughter.

In all Coward's plays Lahr uncovers a coherent philosophy in which charm is both the subject of Coward's comedies and the trap which made his very public life a perpetual performance."A smashing, thoughtful and very good guide to Coward's plays" (Sheridan Morley)

Information

£24.99

Item not Available
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information

Also in the Biography and Autobiography series  |  View all