It’s is not going to change your life but for a chance to see a national treasure and to wallow away from the pressures of the real world for a couple of hours, Blithe Spirit ticks all the boxes.
‘Saunders is outrageously good but then so are the rest of the cast’: BLITHE SPIRIT – Bath ★★★★
If I could look into Madame Arcati’s crystal ball I think I would see a West End transfer on the cards for Richard Eyre’s playful production of Blithe Spirit.
‘Exuberantly funny, elegant & sharp’: PRIVATE LIVES – Ipswich ★★★★
Exuberantly funny, elegant as a Deauville hotel balcony and sharp as the crack of a 78rpm record over a lover’s head, Joanna Carrick’s witty miniaturised production does Noel Coward’s sparkiest comedy full justice. I say miniature – it’s full length – only because of the venue: the tiny but vigorous home of Red Rose Chain.
NEWS: Andrew Scott will star in Matthew Warchus’ production of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter at The Old Vic
The Old Vic today has announced that Matthew Warchus will direct Andrew Scott in Noёl Coward’s provocative comedy Present Laughter, opening on 25 June 2019, with previews from 17 June. The cast also includes Luke Thallon, Sophie Thompson, Suzie Toase and Indira Varma.
‘Touching, funny & heart-rending’: A SONG AT TWILIGHT – Touring ★★★★
Noël Coward’s A Song at Twilight may be billed as a comedy but this story of one man’s fear of mortality and exposure, is tinged with tragedy. The Theatre Royal Bath’s polished production, which is currently touring the UK, glories in Simon Callow’s exquisite enunciation.
‘A hell of an entertainment’: TONIGHT AT 8.30 – Jermyn Street Theatre
This may not be Shakespeare or Ibsen but Tonight At 8.30 it is a hell of an entertainment. Whether it is effective in reappraising Coward is a moot point but it is unquestionably a worthwhile effort.
‘Light laughter for a light comedy’: PRESENT LAUGHTER – Chichester Festival Theatre ★★★★
The entire cast of Present Laughter executed every scene with a fabulous, animated, flamboyant energy yet there seemed to be an awful lot of unnecessary shouting throughout this production.
‘Vintage comedy reinvented for a new generation’: PRESENT LAUGHTER – Chichester Festival Theatre ★★★★
Yes, the Present Laughter is a bit jokey and, as one critic has said, cartoonish, but perhaps that is just what audiences want. You can’t say that it isn’t entertaining.
‘The second half is properly full-on funny’: PRESENT LAUGHTER – Chichester Festival Theatre ★★★
What begins as a comedy of manners in Present Laugher does turn gradually into true farce: wrong people behind doors, disastrous revelations of affairs, panic. And in this area director Sean Foley is wholly reliable.
FEATURED SHOW: Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30 at Jermyn Street Theatre, ★★★★★ reviews are in!
A historic hit! Jermyn Street Theatre’s historic staging of Noel Coward’s full Tonight at 8.30 cycle has wowed the critics who attended this past weekend’s trilogy days. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite review quotes below, including from our own Cowardologist Libby Purves. Get your tickets before they’re all gone!
‘From the 1930s to the Netflix generation comes a prototype binge-watch’: TONIGHT AT 8.30 – Jermyn Street Theatre ★★★★
One of the pleasures for an amateur Cowardologist is spotting echoes and pre-echoes of other plays; and, not least, marvelling at the Master’s particular gift for sending up situations in one play which he takes with painful seriousness in another.
PHOTOS: First-look at first-ever London revival of Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30
Got your tickets yet for Jermyn Street’s historic staging of Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30? It’s the first time that all nine plays in the cycle have been staged together in London since their 1936 premiere. Check out our gallery of production shots from the first three Bedroom Farces below – and then get booking!
WATCH: Tonight at 8.30 cast introduce you to the plays in Noel Coward’s epic cycle
We continue our series building up to the opening of Jermyn Street’s complete staging of Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30 with these new, rehearsal room videos from the cast introducing the nine plays in the cycle, not seen all together in London since their 1936 premiere. Watch onscreen below – and then get booking to watch onstage!
‘Rice sprinkles in her own brand of magic’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket
Brief Encounter is a love letter to both film and theatre in which Rice combines elements of David Lean’s 1946 film with the 1936 Noël Coward play Still Life that it was based on, and then sprinkles in her own brand of magic.
Before Brief Encounter: Watch Miranda Foster on Laura in Still Life + other videos
Before Brief Encounter, there was Still Life. Audiences now have a chance to see Noel Coward’s one-act play, which spawned David Lean’s classic film, as part of Jermyn Street Theatre’s complete cycle of nine short plays, which have not been seen all together in London since their 1936 premiere. Watch our video with Still Life’s new Laura – and then get booking!
9 short plays make up Noel Coward’s Tonight at 8.30: Here they are
Jermyn Street Theatre is reviving Noël Coward’s complete cycle of one-act plays, Tonight at 8.30, for the first time in London since Coward himself starred in the 1936 West End premiere. How well do you know the plays (beyond just Still Life, which later became immortalised onscreen as Brief Encounter)? Gen up below – and then get booking!
‘A little classic in its own right’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket ★★★★★
On the far side of Emma Rice’s brief unhappy tenure at the Globe, here Brief Encounter comes again, with a few fine tweaks, to remind us what Rice does best, and how playful, inventive, sincere and inspiring Kneehigh can be when it beats its own path through the woods.
NEWS: Rufus Hound, Katherine Kingsley & Tracy-Ann Oberman lead Present Laughter cast at Chichester
The full company has been revealed for the opening production of Chichester’s Festival 2018, Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, with Rufus Hound as Garry Essendine, Katherine Kingsley as Liz Essendine and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Monica Reed.
‘Every bit as iconic as the film it references’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket ★★★★★
You may find, by the finish of Brief Encounter, that you’ve got a little bit of grit in your eye too, but don’t be afraid to be swept along with this exquisitely flawless production.
‘The show of the year so far’: BRIEF ENCOUNTER – Empire Cinema Haymarket ★★★★★
My verdict? Brief Encounter is a love letter to stage and screen, beautifully conceived and immaculately performed – the show of the year so far.