No�Coward was a master playwright whose prodigious talent dominated the theatre of the 1920s & 30s. “The Vortex” made him an immediate hit and controversial sensation. “Hay Fever,” “Private Lives,” and “Design for Living” are as popular today as when they were first performed. His series of one-acts “Tonight at 8:30″ which he performed with Gertrude Lawrence have become a treasure trove for modern theater companies. This collection features star-studded BBC productions of Coward’s full-length plays, one-acts and short stories plus bonus features including several radio plays, interviews and profiles of Coward. It’s a must own collection for lovers of great theatre!
DVD Features:
Interviews
Other
Are you a bust at parties? Dull? Can never think of just the thing to say until everyone has gone home? Watch any of these classic Noel Coward plays, one-act playlets, or dramatized short stories, and soon you’ll be regaling your guests with such ripping bon mots as, “She’s one of the few actresses living who can be dressed by Schiaparelli and looks as if she had been upholstered by Maples.” Okay, we may not get it, but doesn’t it just fizz with sophistication? Noel Coward was a true Renaissance man, a celebrated, playwright, composer, author, and actor. To quote the title of one of his biographies, he had A Talent to Amuse. But in his most enduring works, he found “genuine emotion under the gloss.” This gala, more than 19-hour, seven-disc box set (plus more than 12 hours of bonus audio interviews, musical performances, speeches, and radio plays) immerses viewers in Coward’s vanished urbane world, where formidable and fascinating characters are often caught between their natural instincts and the laws of society. Take Gilda, Otto, and Leo, who, flout convention by living as three in the quintessential Coward play, Design for Living (1979). Or the bohemian Bliss family, whose members each, independently, invite a guest up for a very chaotic weekend in Hay Fever (1984). Or monstrously self-absorbed actor Garry Essendine, who frantically keeps dewy-eyed admirers, an ex-wife, and a persistent playwright at bay in Present Laughter (1981). Or Amanda and Elyot, a divorced couple reunited on their respective honeymoons in Private Lives (1976).
These farcical comedies of bad manners, all among Coward’s most popular, are “jagged with sophistication” and effervescent with “easy, swift dialogue.” But it’s not all gay banter and cocktails. The Vortex (1969), the once-controversial play that put Coward on the map, is anything but a laughing matter. The Noel Coward Collection is rich with “small and large enchantments.” The productions, originally broadcast on the BBC, cannot be said to be definitive, but they are each tastefully mounted (only Present Laughter is marred by intrusive shots of a live theatre audience), and for the most part, superbly acted. Penelope Keith (To the Manor Born) is splendid as the tempestuous Amanda in Private Lives and the theatrical Judith Bliss in Hay Fever. Joan Collins acquits herself admirably in Tonight at 8:30 (1991), a series of eight one-act plays that range from light comedy to tragedy. Other casting coups include Paul Scofield and Deborah Kerr in A Song at Twilight (1982) about a successful writer, his former lover, and a secret she threatens to reveal, and Judi Dench and Ian Holm as Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985), a wartime drama. This marvelously entertaining anthology is an embarrassment of riches and essential for theatre buffs or anyone looking for an oasis of smart and cultured entertainment in a Superbad world. –Donald Liebenson
Delicious travel back in time via DVD…. THE NOEL COWARD collection….is simply a treasure. Yes, we will eachhave slightly different favorites…but…there is not a dud in the whole box. And, there is a monumental ammount of material…and all of it first rate. I becan with disc TWO and ran one dvd a night…andTHEN did disc ONE and watched “The Vortex” last…and indeed, it was not a personal favorite…but it was well done and beautifully mounted like everything in this collection. Yes, there were nine plays in TONIGHT AT 8:30…and only EIGHT are included on this disc. Joan Collins is a total delight in all of them…and she plays a wide variety of rolesfrom glamourous through frumpy. All I can say…is…I have never bought a BOX so full of treasures and so entertaining throughout. I havewatched everything and still have all the audio only features to examine.You will NOT get more BANG for your BUCH anywhere. THIS IS IT.
NOEL COWARD CLASSICS. YES, EVEN JOAN COLLINS IS GOOD! Throughout the years, the BBC has broadcast any number of Coward’s immensely witty and wise works, and they are here, it what may be called a true embarrassment of riches. They have been cut and re-arranged for television, and some of the casts may leave a bit to be desired, but all in all it’s a great collection of stuff by one of the masters of entertainment of the twentieth century.Margaret Leighton plays the besotted mother in 1969 broadcast of Coward’s 1924 smash The Vortex; Alec McCowen plays Elyot in a 1976 Private Lives; the ever lovely Rula Lenska essays Gilda, the female corner of a ménage in Design for Living; the magnificent Donald Sinden plays the narcissistic actor in Present Laughter and Geraldine McEwan, Deborah Kerr and Sir Paul Scofield are in Coward’s last masterpiece, Suite in Two Keys. And, as someone once said, you ain’t heard nothing yet. Coward wrote a number of short stories that were, with greater and lesser success, adapted for television. Since Coward, a master at play construction, chose to write these in prose should tell us something, and some of these programs have a weary sense of tediousness and lack of focus. However, with British stars such as Tom Courtney, Dame Judi Dench, Ian Holm and Susannah York, and each clocking in at less than an hour, they are curiosities worth investigating. The greatest curiosity is the Joan Collins Repertory Company doing eight of the one-act plays from Tonight at Eight-Thirty. The plays, their casts and production values are quite fantastic. Collins rises to the occasion brilliantly, giving a star turn in each—beautiful, warm, touching, hysterically funny and a far cry from the sex-ridden harridan she usually plays on this side of the pond. Added to this intoxicating mix are several radio adaptations of the plays, including Dame Judi in Hay Fever and Stephen Fry in Private Lives, a bizarre but fascinating 1978 variety television show called The Songwriters that features cabaret like performances of Coward’s songs, and best of all, a couple of BBC interviews with Coward on acting and writing. This collection is a delight, and proves that Coward had vastly more than merely a talent to amuse.