• Introduction
  • Plays
  • Musicals
  • Plays Adapted from Coward's Short Stories
 

Listed here are all of the known theatre works of Noël Coward.

The theatre works are grouped under the titles: Plays, Revues and Musicals, and Short Stories that have been adapted for the stage, film, radio and television. Some of the plays included here exist only as original manuscripts or are partially completed work.

Others remain unproduced. Short additional notes are included to indicate these details where they are known.

Musical adaptations of Coward's work that were composed or written by others are included.

Play and Musicals shown in blue are linked to further pages about the work and include a brief history and a synopsis of the plot.

 

In 1985 the BBC adapted six of Coward's short stories for television. These were later released by START Video on VHS videotape. On September 11th 2007 they were re-released by the BBC as part of a 7 DVD collection of Coward's work.

 

In recent years three previously unproduced works finally received their premier: Semi-Monde (1977 Glasgow Citizens Theatre. Weblink... and 2001 Lyric Theatre, London. Weblink...), Volcano (2000 Palace Theatre, Westcliffe-on-Sea) and Long Island Sound (2002 TACT New York. Weblink...).

 

Shown here are Judy Campbel and Noël Coward in a promotional photograph for

Blithe Spirit.
Decade Title Written Produced Adaptations
1910s Ida Collaborates (with Esmé Wynne) 1917 1917  
  Whisky And Women (with Esmé Wynne) 1918 1918  
  The Unattainable (unpublished) 1918    
  The Rat Trap 1918 1926  
  Nature's Nobleman (one-act, unpublished) 1918    
  The Last Trick (unproduced) 1918    
  The Impossible Wife (unproduced) 1918    
  title unknown (unproduced) 1919    
  I'll Leave It To You 1919 1920  
1920s Barriers Down (unproduced) 1920    
  The Young Idea 1921 1922 TV 1939
  Sirrocco 1921 1927  
  The Better Half (one-act) 1921 1922  
  A Young Man's Fancy (unproduced) 1922    
  The Queen Was In The Parlour
(originally called Nadya, then Souvenir)		 1922 1926 Film 1927 and as Tonight Is Ours 1933
  Mild Oats (one-act) 1922 1922  
  The Vortex 1923 1924 Film 1928 TV 1964, 1969
  Fallen Angels 1923 1925  
  Weatherwise (one-act) 1923 1932  
  Hay Fever 1924 1925 TV 1938, 1939, 1960, 1968
  Easy Virtue 1924 1925 New York
1926 London
Film 1928
  Semi-Monde (originally called Ritz Bar) 1924 1977 Glasgow
2001 London		  
  This Was A Man 1926 1926 New York,
1927 Berlin,
1928 Paris		  
  The Marquise 1926 1927 TV 1969, 1980
  Home Chat 1927 1927  
1930s Private Lives 1930 1930 Film 1931 TV 1939, 1976
  Post-Mortem 1930 1944 (amateur)
1946 (amateur)
TV 1968
  Some Other Private Lives
(parody of Private Lives; one-act)		 1930 1930 (charity show)
1932		  
  Cavalcade 1930-31 1931 Film 1933 TV 1955
  Design for Living 1931 1933 US
1939 London		 Film 1933 TV 1964, 1979
  Point Valaine 1934 1934 Boston
1935 New York 		 
  Tonight at 8.30 (Tonight at 7:30 in Manchester)
Three programmes of one-act plays listed as follows:

1935 1935 Manchester followed by UK tour
1936 London
  We Were Dancing     Film 1942
  The Astonished Heart     Film 1949
  Red Peppers     Meet Me Tonight 1952
TV 1937, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1969
  Hands Across The Sea     TV 1938
  Fumed Oak     Meet Me Tonight 1952
  Shadow Play     TV 1954
  Family Album      
  Star Chamber (only performed once)      
  Ways and Means     Meet Me Tonight 1952
  Still Life     Brief Encounter Film 1945
TV 1951, 1954, 1974
  Present Laughter (Originally called Sweet Sorrow) 1939 1939 TV 1964
  This Happy Breed 1939 1939 Film 1944 TV 1956
1940s Time Remembered (unproduced) 1940    
  Blithe Spirit 1941 1941 Film 1945 TV 1946, 1948, 1956, 1964, 1966
  Peace In Our Time 1946 1947  
  Long Island Sound 1947 2002 New York TV 1985 as What Mad Pursuit? (see Short Stories)
  Island Fling (originally Home and Colonial; in the UK
South Sea Bubble) 		1949 1951 Connecticut
1956 Manchester 		 
1950s Relative Values (originally Moxie) 1950 1951 Film 2000
  Quadrille 1951 1952 TV 1961, 1966, 1986
  Nude With Violin 1954 1956  
  Volcano 1956 2000 Westcliffe  
  Look After Lulu 1958 1959  
  Waiting In The Wings 1959 1960  
1960s Suite In Three Keys (Suite In Two Keys in the US)
trilogy as follows: 		1965 1966 London
1974 New York 		 
  A Song At Twilight     TV 1973, 1982
  Shadows of the Evening      
  Come Into the Garden, Maud     TV 1982
  Star Quality (unproduced) 1968   Adaptation by Noël Coward
Type Title Written Produced Adaptations
Revues London Calling (part author) 1922 1923 London  
  On With The Dance 1924-25 1925 Manchester  
  This Year of Grace 1927-28 1928 Manchester  
  Words and Music 1932 1932 Manchester  
  Set To Music 1938 1938 Boston
1939 New York		  
  Sigh No More 1945 1945 Manchester
1945 London 		 
Musicals Bitter Sweet 1929 1929 Film 1933, 1940
  Conversation Piece (romantic comedy with music) 1933 1934  
  Operette 1937 1938  
  Pacific 1860 1945-46 1946  
  Ace of Clubs (musical play) 1949 1950  
  After The Ball (musical play) 1953 1954 Liverpool  
  Sail Away (musical comedy) 1961 1961 New York  
  The Girl Who Came To Supper
(Musical comedy, Coward wrote music & lyrics only)		 1962 1962 London
1963 New York 		 
  High Spirits (musical based on Blithe Spirit by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray. Originally called 'Faster Than Sound' - Noël Coward Director) 1963 1964 US
1964 London 		 
  Mr & Mrs (musical based on Fumed Oak & Brief Encounter - music and lyrics by John Taylor) 1968 1968 London  
  Title Written as a Story Produced as a Play Adaptations
  The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe 1939   TV 1968, 1981
  What Mad Pursuit (Long Island Sound) 1939 2002 New York TV 1985
  Star Quality 1951 2001 London  (adpt. Chris Luscombe) TV 1968, 1985
  Star Quality (unproduced) 1968   Adapted by Noël Coward
  Mr & Mrs. Edgehill 1951   TV 1985
  Mrs. Capper's Birthday 1964   TV 1968, 1985
  Pretty Polly Barlow 1964   TV 1966
  Me and the Girls 1964   TV 1985
  Bon Voyage 1967   TV 1968

"The most important ingredients of a play are life, death, food, sex and money -

but not necessarily in that order"
© The Noël Coward estate (NC Aventales AG)