Noël Coward

Noël Coward combines a fresh appraisal of major plays by one of the twentieth century's most popular dramatists, with an account of critical and theatrical responses to his life and work.

Russell Jackson is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Birmingham, UK. His publications include The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film (2007), Shakespeare Films in the Making (2007), Theatres on Film: How the Cinema Imagines the Stage (2013), Shakespeare and the English-speaking Cinema (2014), Shakespeare in the Theatre: Trevor Nunn (2018), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen (2020) and Noël Coward: The Playwright's Craft in a Changing Theatre (2022).

Part 1 Life, Career and Reputation 1. A Career in the Theatre 2. Coward and the Critics 3. Comedy and Convention: Hay Fever, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit 4. Passion, Transgression and Sexuality: The Vortex, Semi-Monde, Private Lives, Design for Living and Still Life/Brief Encounter 5. Nostalgia, Empire and Class: Cavalcade, This Happy Breed, 'Peace in Our Time', Relative Values and South Sea Bubble Part 2 Key Plays and Productions 6. Degrees of Decadence: The Vortex and Semi-Monde 7. Style, Sex and Violence: Private Lives 8. Variations on a 'Daring Play': Design for Living