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Coward The Playwright

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Coward The Playwright
Authors and Contributors      By (author) John Lahr
SeriesBiography and Autobiography
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:192
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129
Category/GenrePlays, playscripts
Literary studies - plays and playwrights
ISBN/Barcode 9780413480507
ClassificationsDewey:822.912
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Methuen Drama
Publication Date 9 September 1982
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

A reissue in hardback of critic John Lahr's famous 1982 study of Noel Coward's plays"Noel Coward," said Terence Rattigan, "is simply a phenomenon, and one that is unlikely to occur ever again in theatre history." A phenomenon he certainly was, and it is part of John Lahr's purpose in this book to show how that phenomenon called "Noel Coward" was largely Coward's own careful creation. Lahr's penetrating critical study of Coward's drama investigates all the major and minor plays of "The Master". Private Lives, Design for Living and Hay Fever make a fascinating group of "Comedies of Bad Manners". Blithe Spirit and Relative Values raise the "Ghost in the Fun Machine". Lahr then goes on to explore the "politics of charm" oozing through The Vortex, Easy Virtue and Present Laughter. In all Coward's plays Lahr uncovers a coherent philosophy in which charm is both the subject of Coward's comedies and the trap which made his very public life a perpetual performance.

Author Biography

John Lahr has been writing about theatre and popular culture for The New Yorker since 1992. He is the author of sixteen books, among them Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilisation: Backstage with Barry Humphries, Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography of Bert Lahr, and Show and Tell. John Lahr divides his time between New York and London.

Reviews

"A smashing, thoughtful and very good guide to Coward's plays." * Sheridan Morley *