Product Description

Throughout his life, Noel Coward the master songwriter, 'derived a considerable amount of private pleasure from writing verse.' Much of it is gathered in this first ever CD collection. From moving war-time encounters to satirical barbs at familiar Coward targets and personal reminiscences, this delightful collection is a perfect blend of vintage Noel Coward sure to be enjoyed by faithful fans and new listeners alike.

The collection includes two short stories, Cheap Excursion and The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe, and various poems. And from the Caedmon Treasury Sir Noel Coward himself and Margaret Leighton perform Coward's adaptation of his Brief Encounter, scenes from Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter, the interlude from Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart, concluding with the duo reading more from Coward's Collected Verse.

Performed by Simon Jones

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #882199 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-01
• Released on: 2005-04-12
• Formats: Audiobook, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio CD

About the Author

Noel Coward was born in 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex. He made his name as a playwright with The Vortex (1924), in which he also appeared. His numerous other successful plays included Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1933), Design for Living (1933), and Blithe Spirit (1941). During the war he wrote screenplays such as Brief Encounter (1944) and This Happy Breed (1942). In the fifties he started a new career as a cabaret entertainer. He published volumes of verse and a novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), two volumes of autobiography, and four volumes of short stories: To Step Aside (1939), Star Quality (1951), Pretty Polly Barlow (1964), and Bon Voyage (l967). Coward was knighted in 1970 and died three years later in Jamaica.

From AudioFile
In these Caedmon archival recordings of Coward's work, Noel Coward and Margaret Leighton perform poems, monologues, and scenes from plays (two discs). Simon Jones reads two stories and several poems (three discs). Not surprisingly, Jones, though a fine reader, is outshone by Coward and Leighton; larger-than-life yet capable of ultrafine detail and coloring, they are, at times, marvelous. Jones's only advantage is that his selections are complete; the archival dramatic pieces, while interesting demonstrations of acting, remain fragments unless one knows the plays, except for BRIEF ENCOUNTERS, which, oddly, is the weakest selection. Still, the two halves of this program succeed in portraying Coward as writer and actor, and that's a gift. W.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Highly recommendable Coward-collection!
A wonderful collection of some of Noel Coward's brilliant production.
Coward is unparalelled in english litterature with his short stories;
and here we have two gems ("Cheap Excursion" and "The Kindness Of Mrs.
Radcliffe" excellently presented by SIMON JONES.
Together with MARGARET LEIGHTON we also hear NOEL COWARD himself act out some excerpts from his plays "Brief Encounter", "Blithe Spirit" and
"Present Laughter" plus G.B.Shaw's "The Apple Cart"
This 5 -cd-collection also presents some of Coward's collected verse. Enjoy!