"We've stood up - we've lain down - we've concentrated. We've sat interminably while that tiresome old woman recited extremely unflattering verses at us. We're endured five ""seances ""- we've watched her fling herself in and out of trances until we're dizzy, and at the end of it all we find ourselves exactly where we were at the beginning."Researching for his new novel, Charles Condomine invites the implausible medium Madame Arcati to his house for a seance. Whilst consumed in a trance, Madame Arcati unwittingly summons the ghost of Charles's dead wife, Elvira. Appearing only to Charles, Elvira soon makes a play to reclaim her husband, much to the chagrin of Charles's new wife, Ruth. One husband, two feuding wives and a whisper of mischief in the air - who will win in Coward's unworldly comedy?Written in 1941, "Blithe Spirit" remained the longest-running comedy in the history of the British theatre for three decades thereafter. Dealing with relationships on both sides of the grave, it is an enduring classic.A new edition of Coward's classic play ""published to coincide with the 2014 new West End revival at the Gielgud Theatre, starring Angela Lansberry as Madame Arcati."

"I will ever be grateful for the almost psychic gift that enabled me to write "Blithe Spirit" in five days during one of the darkest years of the war."-Noel Coward. 

Written in 1941, "Blithe Spirit" remained the longest-running comedy in British Theatre for three decades. Plotted around the central role of one of Coward's best loved characters, a spirit medium Madame Arcati (originally performed by Margaret Rutherford) Coward's play is an escapist comedy about a man whose two previous wives return to haunt him.

A rich uncle announces he has a terminal illness and plans to leave his estate to one of his sister's children but under one condition. The family scrambles to accommodate his needs and meet the requirements of the inheritance. Mrs. Dermott is a widow and mother of five adult children-Oliver, Evangeline, Sylvia, Bobbie and Joyce. They live together in a large country house that they can no longer afford. The children are stagnant with no careers or future aspirations. Desperate, Mrs. Dermott turns to her brother Daniel for help. Once he arrives, Uncle Daniel declares he's gravely ill and plans to leave his fortune to one of his sister's children. He will bequeath a lucrative inheritance to the niece or nephew who is able to make the most of their life. In an effort to gain his favor, each child embarks on a different career path becoming successful in their own right. This leads to a startling revelation about Uncle Daniel, his wealth and mysterious illness.I'll Leave It to You is a three-act play that's both clever and entertaining. It's one of Noel Coward's earliest and most memorable works. It was written at age 19 and produced the following year in Manchester and London's West End. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of I'll Leave It to You is both modern and readable.

Featuring the words and music of Noel Coward. Devised by Gerald Frow, Alan Strachan and Wendy Toye. Chracters: 6 male, 6 femaleRevue style setting.

An immense success in London. An imaginative and innovative presentation of Noel Coward's words, music, sketches, which also shows us something of the man himself. Cowardy Custard contains not only those classic medleys and duets, but also previously unpublished material, snippets of plays and dialogues, material from his autobiographies as background and even a few of his little known poems. The result is a kaleidoscopic glimpse of the Coward achievement.

"More densely packed with entertainment than any that has hit town for a long while."-- Daily Mail, London.

"A whole ravishing feast ... never ceases to amaze."-- Evening Standard, London.

Left a widow with five grown up children, Mrs. Dermot turns to brother Dan for help. Uncle Dan arrives to find an idle family ready to live on his money. He announces that he is doomed to die in three years and that he will leave his money to the member of the family who has made good by then. Each sets to with such determination that Oliver becomes a successful inventor, Evangeline a novelist, Bobbie a composer and Sylvia a film star; even Joyce, finishing her school career, distinguishes herself.6 women, 4 men

Edward Churt is a successful painter. His wife Carol has a 'vivid personality composed of a minimum of intellect and a maximum of sex'. Increasingly aware of her infidelity, Edward defends himself with a veneer of sophisticated insouciance. But his best friend and army comrade is determined to avenge him... This Was A Man explores some of Coward's lifelong themes of social mores, jealousy and the futility of a life with no moral compass. Can good manners emasculate us? What happens when we repress our inner caveman? Is it more courageous to look away or to face our demons and fight? What, indeed, does it mean to be a man?3 women, 6 men

First produced in 1925, "Hay Fever" is technically a masterpiece. A comedy of bad manners which starts with the arrival of four guests, invited independently by different members of the Bliss family for a weekend at their country house near Maidenhead. The promise of an idyllic and peaceful weekend is quickly trounced by the self-absorbed eccentricities of the family who leave the guests to slink away humiliated, embarrassed and abandoned.

""It does not date… it is in the highest mood of fantastic comedy, it is deliciously heartless and therefore delicioiusly alive and fresh" "The Times

Comedy / 4m, 14f / Int. Coward's tribute to theatre is set in a retirement home for actresses, all former stars. Jealousies abound, especially between Lotta and another who was also married to her former husband. A tragedy brings them to their senses and a new solarium brings out everyone's good nature. Lotta chooses to stay with her old friends rather than go live with her son. "Should rejoice those of us who still have hearts." London News Chronicle.

One of Coward's best-loved classics in a single-play edition

Coward's wit and precision as a modern dramatist is nowhere better exemplified than in this classic modern plays from 1930. Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne (originally played by Gertrude Lawrence and Noël Coward), recently divorced from one another five years previously, arrive coincidentally at the same French hotel. They are honeymooning with their respective new spouses. Encountering one another by chance, each is at once horrified and fascinated by the other. Together they leave for Paris and begin a roundelay of quarrels and love intrigues that culminate in their getting back together.

At the centre of his own universe sits matinee idol Garry Essendine: suave, hedonistic and too old, says his wife, to be having numerous affairs. His line in harmless, infatuated debutantes is largely tolerated but playing closer to home is not. Just before he escapes on tour to Africa the full extent of his misdemeanours is discovered. And all hell breaks loose. Noel Coward's Present Laughter premiered in the early years of the Second World War just as such privileged lives were threatened with fundamental social change.

This Happy Breed covers twenty years in the life of the Frank and Ethel Bibbons and their children, from the end of World War I to the beginning of World War II. On one level the story is the chronicle of a middle class family. They haven't done well in the years between the wars, but in the face of another conflict, family unity spans the chasm between the generations. At another level, this is the story of England, torn at times by the conflicts of its own progress, but quietly firm in its historical moments of crisis.

Performed with Shadows of the Evening in London with Coward, Lilli Palmer and Irene Worth, this view of the haute monde is tempered by having the man and wife Americans this time. She is a social climber, while he is a rich cornhusker who couldn't care less about society. While the wife is entertaining a high and mighty prince downstairs, the husband is entertaining a threadbare princess upstairs. It doesn't take long for the husband to realize he has more in common with royalty than his wife does.2 women, 2 men

Everything that wealthy London society had to offer a properly brought-up girl lay at the feet of little Sarah Millick in 1875; but she fell so desperately in love with her handsome young singing master that she threw it all away in order to be with him.12 women, 2 men

At the centre of his own universe sits matinee idol Garry Essendine: suave, hedonistic and too old, says his wife, to be having numerous affairs. His line in harmless, infatuated debutantes is largely tolerated but playing closer to home is not. Just before he escapes on tour to Africa the full extent of his misdemeanours is discovered. And all hell breaks loose. Noel Cowards Present Laughter premiered in the early years of the Second World War just as such privileged lives were threatened with fundamental social change.

The No l Coward musical, Sail Away, tells the story of a romantic love-affair aboard a cruise ship, with all the classic wit and charm of Broadway's golden era. Recent divorcee Mimi Paragon (a role originated by Elaine Stritch) is stuck serving tourists as one of the ship's hostesses when she is drawn to the much younger and strikingly handsome Johnny Van Mier. Complicating their relationship is a host of eccentric and hilarious cruise ship characters-from cynical and quirky Sweeney coup

Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, David Bliss, a novelist and his wife Judith, a retired actress, find that an impossible dream when their high-spirited children Simon and Sorel appear with guests of their own. A housefull of drama waits to be ignited as misunderstandings and tempers flare. With Judith's new flame and David's newest literary 'inspiration' keeping company as the children follow suit, the Bliss family lives up to its name as the 'quiet weekend' comes to a

Genre: Comedy Characters: 3 males, 3 females Scenery: Interior Best friends now happily married to others, Julia and Jane both once counted the dashing Frenchman Maurice as their lover. Guess who's back in town and requesting the pleasure of the ladies company? Coward at his inimitable best, the story is a champagne cocktail of wit and charm.

Characters: 6 male, 5 female

Interior Set

One of the Tonight at 8:30 series, a success in London and New York. The movie Brief Encounter was based on this play. In a suburban rail station, Dr. Harvey removes a cinder from Laura's eye and they fall in love. Subsequent weekly meetings over tea, scenes debating respectability or love, and some sentimental moments transpire before they decide they must part forever. He is accepting a faraway post and she must return to a circumspect life. At their last meeting, a chattering friend swoops down and there is no chance for a final goodbye.

Characters: 4 male, 3 female

Scenery: Interior

One of the Tonight at 8:30 series produced in London and New York. In psychiatrist Christian Faber's drawing room sits his weeping wife and his sad assistants, waiting for the siren Leonora. In four flashbacks the story emerges: Leonora, a girlhood chum, visited Christian's wife and was introduced to him. She set out to capture her friend's husband but was captured herself. She threw him over because of his jealousy. He jumped out of the window. Leonora has come because Christian calls for her on his death bed. She returns slowly from his room to announce he has died and that his last words were tender ones to his wife, for whom he mistook Leonora. Also published in Tonight at 8:30.

Comedy Chararcters: 5 male, 4 female

Interior set

One of the "Tonight at 8:30" series produced in London and New York. In a bedroom in Mrs. Lloyd Ransome's fabulous villa on the Cote d'Azur are heiress Stella Cartwright and her husband, a gambler. They are plagued by debts and their prolonged stay at the villa is becoming embarrassing when a scandalous chauffeur attempts to rob them and ends up saving their honor.

Characters: 5 male, 4 female

Scenery: Suggested sets

One of the Tonight At 8:30 series produced in London and New York. Victoria has just returned from the theatre where she saw a romantic musical. She quells a headache with three Anytal tablets just before her husband enters and announces divorce plans. Victoria, head buzzing, attempts to understand his reasons. She slips into a fantastic dream that reviews their meeting, courtship and marriage. Coming to, she clings to her husband and he reconsiders. Also published in Tonight at 8:30.

Comedy / Characters: 6 male, 3 female

Scenery: Interior

One of the "Tonight At 8:30" series produced in London and New York. Lady Gilpin (Piggie) is so busy with social duties and gossip that she has no time for coherent thinking. She is set aflutter when her drawing room is suddenly filled with her husband's naval conferees, blueprint delivery boys and dumpy Mr. and Mrs. Wadhurst from the Far East, who flighty Piggie mistakes for the Rawlingsons. The Wadhursts overhear intimate phone conversations, are stumbled over, spilled upon and completely ignored before Piggie finally gets it straight.

Full Length, Comedy

Characters: 2 males, 3 females

Set Requirements: 2 interiors

Revived in 2002 by the Royal National Theatre in a production that sparkled on Broadway, Private Lives is one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, meet by chance, reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear and a roundelay of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then apart, and new partnerships are formed. A uniquely humorous play boasting numerous successful Broadway runs boasting such as stars Coward himself, Laurence Olivier, Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Tammy Grimes, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

"Gorgeous, dazzling, fantastically funny."-The New York Times

"A gleaming and gleeful comedy."-New York Post