About the Play:

This first volume in The Coward Collection contains four plays written within a two year period when Noel Coward and the century were still in their 20s. The volume is introduced by the theatre critic and broadcaster Sheridan Morley, Coward's first biographer.

Hay Fever, a comedy of bad manners, concerns a weekend with friends of the Bliss family, who have all been invited independently for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead. (Cast: 5 female, 4 male)

The Vortex was a controversial drama in its time, introducing drug-addiction onto the stage at a time when alcoholism was barely mentioned. Noel Coward's smashing debut as playwright and star took London by storm. This story of avarice and decadence between mother and son was recently revived on the West End to great acclaim. Cast: 3 female, 7 male)

Fallen Angels, which is written for two star actresses was described as 'degenerate', 'vile', 'obscene', 'shocking' – the second half of the play is entirely taken up with an alcoholic duologue between the two women. (Cast: 3 female, 3 male)

Easy Virtue is an elegant, laconic tribute to a lost world of drawing-room dramas, no other writer went more directly to the jugular of that moralistic, tight-lipped but fundamentally hypocritical 20s society. (Cast: 11 female, 8 male)

About the Playwright:

Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973) was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. Also a composer, director, actor and singer, he first made his name as a playwright with The Vortex, in which he also appeared. His numerous other successful plays included Fallen Angels, Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, and Blithe Spirit. He was knighted in 1970.