Noël Coward Archives - North West End UK

14Feb

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Blithe Spirit – Hope Mill Theatre

Director Hannah Ellis Ryan of Her Productions illuminated Hope Mill Theatre with her production of Blithe Spirit. Ellis Ryan has had some fabulous successes in her previous direction of ‘Vignettes’ and ‘Taming of the Shrew’ at Hope Mill, so I was thrilled to be asked to review her latest masterpiece. Blithe Spirit is a High-Spirited Comedy by the Masterful Noël Coward, the play was first seen in the West End in 1941 and ran for 1,997 performances, which was a new record for a non-musical play in London. It also did well on Broadway later that year, running for 657 performances. The play was adapted for the cinema in 1945; a second film version followed in 2020. The plot relates to Charles Condomine (Peter Stone) a novelist, and his wife Ruth (Ntombizodwa Ndlovu), who have invited the...

Present Laughter – National Theatre Live: The Old Vic

Filmed live during its sell-out run at The Old Vic in 2018, director Matthew Warchus’ multi-award winning production of Noël Coward‘s provocative 1943 comedy delightfully returns to the big screen, as it depicts a few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine (Andrew Scott) as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce and with the support of a knowing valet Fred (Joshua Hill) and a housekeeper Miss Erikson (Liza Sadovy), he has to placate both his long-suffering secretary Monica (Sophie Thompson) and his wife Liz (Indira Varma) who form part of his inner circle along with Morris (Abdul Salis) and Helen (Suzie Toase), whilst in this updated gender swap version, also fighting off the a...

Private Lives – Lyceum Theatre

Private Lives is one of Noël Coward’s best-known and most-produced plays, and it is easy to see why. This two-hour production is absolutely full of snappy one-liners and delightfully stormy relationships. As the play opens, we meet Amanda and Elyot, who have been divorced for five years. Now recently remarried, we find them on the first night of their honeymoons as they discover that they have coincidentally booked adjacent rooms at the same hotel in the south of France... If you want to know what happens next, well, you’ll have to book tickets for the play! Originally starring Coward himself and Gertrude Lawrence, the leading parts are performed here by Nigel Havers, whose theatre company is also co-producing the tour, and Patricia Hodge, supported by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart as Victor...