Tom was nominated for his fifth OffWestEnd Best Director Award for this marathon revival of Noel Coward’s nine one-act plays, appearing together in the West End for the first time since 1936. It was also nominated for the OffWestEnd Awards for Best Production, Best Set and Best Ensemble.
Noel Coward’s dazzling versatility shines across nine one-act plays. From the railway station of Still Life to the Pacific island of We Were Dancing; from the music-hall of Red Peppers to the ache of The Astonished Heart, this is the first complete London revival since 1936.
Bedroom Farces
“I knew marrying you was a mistake seven years ago – but I never realised the thoroughness of the mistake until now.”
Affairs of the heart, the bed, and the chequebook are wittily and touchingly captured in this trio of plays, containing some of Coward’s most popular music.
We Were Dancing, a comedy featuring Coward’s song of the same title, is set on an idyllic island, where the guests of a country club are enmeshed a complex web of extra-marital affairs.
Ways and Means is a comedy about the bohemian Stella and Toby, who go from villa to villa on the Côte d’Azur. But when they cannot pay their gambling debts, they plan to make an easy fortune…
Shadow Play is a ‘musical fantasy’. Peppered with songs and dances including ‘Play, Orchestra, Play’, it is a moving portrait of a marriage under strain.
Running time approx 2 hours 15 minutes, including an interval.
Secret Hearts
“I know that this is the beginning of the end – not the end of my love for you – but the end of our being together.”
Secret dreams, unfulfilled ambitions and impossible desires: this trio of two plays and one musical comedy has everything from outrageous farce to heartbreaking romance.
Star Chamber is a comedy about a charity committee meeting, set in a theatre and peopled by outrageous characters.
Red Peppers is a riotous tribute to music-hall. George and Lily Pepper battle with tiny dressing rooms, a grumbling audience, and a drunken pianist.
Still Life was later immortalised as Brief Encounter. In a station refreshment room, Laura meets Alec.
Running time around 2 hours 15 minutes, including an interval.
Nuclear Families
“You’d better come and dine tonight – I’m on a diet, so there’s only spinach.”
The glitter of middle-class life is exposed as the thinnest of façades in these three plays, ranging from laugh-out-loud comedy to mesmeric drama.
Family Album is a social comedy wickedly poking fun at Victorian sentiment. The Featherways family have gathered to mourn their father. But the siblings are not on their best behaviour.
Hands Across the Sea is a glittering comedy reminiscent of Hay Fever. Naval officer Peter Gilpin and his wife ‘Piggie’ are the most eccentric party hosts in London.
The Astonished Heart is a gripping drama of secrecy and betrayal. A brilliant psychiatrist, Christian appears to have the perfect life. Then he meets Leonora…
Running time around 2 hours 30 minutes, including an interval.
http://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/tonight-8-30/