Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives: Three Plays [Paperback]

Noel Coward (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage International Ed edition (January 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067978179X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679781790
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only serious challenge to Feydeau in English, December 18, 1999

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This review is from: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives: Three Plays (Paperback)

Noel Coward's _Hay Fever_, Evelyn Waugh's _Handful of Dust_, and Kingsley Amis's _Lucky Jim_ are, for my money, the three funniest things written in English in the 20th century. I was a drama critic for nearly 12 years, saw hundreds of productions of all kinds from coast to coast in the US and a few in London, and never laughed harder or enjoyed myself more than at a regional US production of "Hay Fever" in the late 1970's. Do it again! Do it again!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Brilliants By The Great English Wit, May 29, 2002

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Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives: Three Plays (Paperback)

Noel Coward's talent for spinning gossamer plots into rapier-sharp comedy assures his reputation in theatre, and his comedies have such timeless appeal that they remain staples of both English and American theatre. This volume collects three of his most memorable scripts: the fantasy BLITHE SPIRIT, the farce HAY FEVER, and the razor-wicked PRIVATE LIVES.

Of the three, BLITHE SPIRIT and PRIVATE LIVES are best known to the general public through various film versions and frequent revivals. BLITHE SPIRIT concerns a novelist who invites a medium to give a seance that he might learn tricks of the trade for the book he is writing--but the medium is no fake, and she unintentionally summons up the ghost of his first wife, who promptly moves in and makes his second wife's life a living hell. PRIVATE LIVES offers the story of a divorced couple who unexpectedly meet while honeymooning with their new spouses--whom they quickly abandon in order to resume their torrid passion for each other. Trouble is, although they love each other desperately, their personalities are about as compatible as two scorpions in a bottle. HAY FEVER, one of Coward's earliest successes, presents the story of visitors to an eccentric family who are very nearly driven mad before they are able to escape.

Coward was reknowned for his sophistocated and often acid turn of phrase, and all three of these plays contain enough outrageous situations and sharp-tongued lines to make even the worst sourpuss laugh loud enough to annoy the neighbors. Although those unused to reading playscripts may find HAY FEVER a bit hard to grasp, both BLITHE SPIRIT and PRIVATE LIVES read extremely, extremely well--so much so that you're likely to find yourself acting them out as you read! Wonderful fun, and strongly, strongly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God Save The Queen, August 2, 2008

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David Schweizer "Almawood" (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives: Three Plays (Paperback)

This is an important author, although poor Noel lived to see himself both scorned and forgotten. He got the Tennessee Williams treatment in spades. Suddenly, the clouds lifted and he was once again the toast of London, got knighted, and will live again evidently until the next round of purging. It all sounds terribly Soviet, doesn't it? But this seems to be how theater critics go about exciting the audience to new things. First they have to eviscerate the old. Coward could take it because he was a tough old sod. The British theater seems to produce little monsters, like Peter Sellers, Lawrence Olivier, and Noel Coward. Monsters as in gila monsters, with reptile-tough skin. Evidently one needs it. Coward exists in a time warp, somewhat like P. G. Wodehouse. His world is long gone if it ever existed. What is key is that once in it, you believe it did once exist and you hope it will last forever. The plays are addictive. Women love the roles in the same way they love to play Williams. I would venture to say that there will be a production of "Private Lives" some where on this earth every year until the last days of mankind. The editor is also Coward's most recent biographer. I happen to have this same volume, edited by Edward Albee with a nifty introduction.