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    The Noel Coward Collection
    The Noel Coward Collection
    The Noel Coward Collection
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Noel Coward Collection

    Written by Noel Coward

    Narrated by Annette Bening, Shirley Knight and Full Cast

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Six phenomenally sophisticated Noël Coward comedies:

    Fallen Angels: Julia and Fred and Willy and Jane are happily married and the best of friends, until a postcard arrives with news of the imminent arrival of a certain handsome Frenchman.Gay, debonair, and utterly sophisticated. Performed by: Annette Bening, Harriet Harris, Judith Ivey, Joe Mantegna, John Rubinstein and Kristoffer Tabori.

    Hay Fever: A country house weekend goes haywire when the guests and their hosts play a game of romantic musical chairs. This witty masterpiece is filled with Coward’s biting commentary on his own profession. Performed by: Tate Donovan, Arabella Field, Joy Gregory, Jeffrey Jones, Lynne Marta, Serena Scott Thomas, Carolyn Seymour, Eric Stoltz and Simon Templeman.

    Private Lives: On the French Rivera, the lights of a yacht are reflected in the water and in the eyes of four hilariously mismatched lovers. Perhaps Coward’s greatest comedy, Private Lives shimmers with romance, desire and bittersweet truth. Performed by: Rosalind Ayres, Marnie Mosiman, Ian Ogilvy, Begonya Piazza and Kristoffer Tabori.

    Design For Living: Three terminally stylish friends attempt to uncoil their twisted love triangle in this sexy and scandalous gem. Written in 1932, the play was deemed extremely daring, and is controversial even by today’s standards. Performed by: Michelle Arthur, Claire Forlani, Thomas Hildreth, Tim Morrison, Sarah Rafferty, Douglas Weston and Hamish Linklater.

    Present Laughter: Stage star Garry Essendine struggles to plan his trip to Africa while his flat is invaded by a love struck ingénue, an adulterous producer, a married seductress, Garry’s estranged wife Liz and an aspiring playwright who is quite, quite mad. Performed by: Gregory Cooke, Arthur Hanket, Jon Matthews, Ian Oglivy, Siri O’Neal, Christina Pickles, Carolyn Seymour and Yeardley Smith.

    Blithe Spirit: A convivial evening party among friends is transformed when a séance conjures the ghost of Elvira, the host’s first wife, who delights in wreaking havoc among the living. An absolutely enchanting Coward comedy. Performed by: Rosalind Ayres, Alexandra Boyd, Judy Geeson, Shirley Knight, Lynne Marta, Christopher Neame and Ian Ogilvy.

    Exclusive bonus material: Two rarely-performed shorts by Noël Coward, “Design for Rehearsing” (performed by Michael Gladis, Matthew Wolf and Sarah Zimmerman) and “Age Cannot Wither” (performed by Juliet Mills, Susan Sullivan and JoBeth Williams), as well as two conversations on Coward with Barry Day (Noel Coward Foundation) and John Lahr (The New Yorker).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherL.A. Theatre Works
    Release dateAug 25, 2010
    ISBN9781580817967
    The Noel Coward Collection
    Author

    Noel Coward

    Noel Coward was born in 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex. He made his name as a playwright with The Vortex (1924), in which he also appeared. His numerous other successful plays included Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1933), Design for Living (1933), and Blithe Spirit (1941). During the war he wrote screenplays such as Brief Encounter (1944) and This Happy Breed (1942). In the fifties he started a new career as a cabaret entertainer. He published volumes of verse and a novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), two volumes of autobiography, and four volumes of short stories: To Step Aside (1939), Star Quality (1951), Pretty Polly Barlow (1964), and Bon Voyage (l967). Coward was knighted in 1970 and died three years later in Jamaica.

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    3.5/5

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    • 2/5
      I didn't like these plays at all, I only listened to three before I had enough. Full unsympathetic people, light weight plots.and fair to average writing, quite cynical in tone. I missed why Coward is so renowned.