Noël Coward on stage and screen

This is a list of works and appearances by the English playwright, actor, singer and songwriter Noël Coward.

Stage works

Title	Description	Written	Premiere
The Last Chapter	One-act comedy	1917[n 1]	1917[1][n 2]
Woman and Whisky	One-act play	1918[n 3]	1918[2]
The Rat Trap	Play in four acts	1918[n 4]	1926[4]
I'll Leave It to You	Light comedy in three acts	1919	1920[5]
The Young Idea	Comedy of youth in three acts	1921	1922[6]
Sirocco	Play in three acts	1921[n 4]	1927[7][8][n 5]
The Better Half	Comedy in one act	1921	1922[9]
The Queen Was in the Parlour[n 6]	Play in three acts	1922[n 4]	1926[11]
Mild Oats	Play in one act	1922	Unknown[n 7]
London Calling!	Revue	1922–23[n 8]	1923[14]
Weatherwise	Comedy in two scenes	1923[n 4]	1932[15]
Fallen Angels	Comedy in three acts	1923[n 4]	1925[16]
The Vortex	Play in three acts	1923	1924[17]
Hay Fever	Comedy in three acts	1924	1925[18]
Easy Virtue	Play in three acts	1924	1925[19]
On with the Dance	Revue[n 9]	1924–25	1925[21]
Semi-Monde[n 10]	Play in three acts	1926	1977[22]
This Was a Man	Comedy in three acts	1926	1926[23]
The Marquise	Comedy in three acts	1926	1927[24]
Home Chat	Play in three acts	1927	1927[25]
This Year of Grace[n 11]	Revue	1927–28	1928[26]
Bitter Sweet[n 12]	Operetta	1928–29	1929[28]
Private Lives	Intimate comedy in three acts	1929	1930[29]
Post-Mortem	Play in eight scenes	1930	1992[n 13]
Cavalcade	Play in three parts	1930–31	1931[31]
Words and Music	Revue	1932	1932[32]
Design For Living	Comedy in three acts	1932	1933[33]
Conversation Piece	Romantic comedy with music	1933	1934[34]
Point Valaine	Play in three acts	1934	1934[35]
Tonight at 8.30 Cycle of ten short plays, presented in groups of three:
We Were Dancing	Comedy in two scenes	1935	1935[36]
The Astonished Heart	Play in six scenes	1935	1935[36]
Red Peppers	Interlude with music	1935	1935[36]
Hands Across the Sea	Light comedy in one scene	1935	1935[37]
Fumed Oak	Unpleasant comedy in two scenes	1935	1935[38]
Shadow Play	Play with music	1935	1935[39]
Family Album	Victorian comedy with music	1935	1935[40]
Star Chamber	Light comedy in one act	1936	1936[41]
Ways and Means	Comedy in three scenes	1936	1936[42]
Still Life	Play in five scenes	1936	1936[43]
Operette	Musical play	1937	1938[44]
Set to Music[n 14]	Revue	1938	1939[46]
Present Laughter[n 15]	Play in three acts	1939	1942[47]
This Happy Breed	Play in three acts	1939[n 16]	1942[48]
Blithe Spirit	Play in three acts	1941	1941[49]
Sigh No More	Revue	1945	1945[50]
Pacific 1860	Musical romance	1946	1946[51]
Peace In Our Time	Play in two acts	1946	1947[52]
Long Island Sound	Comedy of manners in two acts[n 17]	1947	1989[54]
Ace of Clubs	Musical play	1949	1950[55]
South Sea Bubble[n 18]	Comedy in three acts	1949	1951[56]
Relative Values[n 19]	Light comedy in three acts	1951	1951[57]
Quadrille	Romantic comedy in three acts	1951–52	1952[58]
After the Ball[n 20]	Musical play[n 21]	1953	1954[59]
Nude with Violin	Comedy in three acts	1954	1956[61]
Volcano	Play in two acts	1957	2002[n 22]
Look After Lulu!	Three-act farce adapted from Georges Feydeau	1958	1959[64]
Waiting in the Wings	Play in three acts	1959–60	1960[65]
Sail Away	Musical comedy	1959–60	1961[66]
The Girl Who Came to Supper[n 23]	Musical comedy	1963	1963[67]
Suite in Three Keys Trilogy comprising:
A Song at Twilight	Play in two scenes	1965	1966[68]
Shadows of the Evening	Play in two scenes	1965	1966[68]
Come Into the Garden, Maud	Play in two scenes	1965	1966[68]
Star Quality	Comedy in three acts[n 24]	1967	1985[54]
Cowardy Custard	Revue	Various[n 25]	1972[69]
Oh, Coward!	Revue	Various[n 26]	1972[70]

Stage appearances

London, except where stated otherwise

Year	Role	Venue
1911	Prince Mussel in The Goldfish by Lila Field	Little, Royal Court Theatre, Crystal Palace
	Cannard in The Great Name by Charles Hawtrey	Prince of Wales
	William in Where the Rainbow Ends by Clifford Mills and John Ramsey	Savoy
1912	Mushroom in An Autumn Idyll by Ruby Ginner	Savoy
	The Boy in A Little Fowl Play, by Harold Owen	London Coliseum
	William in Where the Rainbow Ends	Garrick
1913	An Angel in Hannele by Gerhart Hauptmann	Liverpool Playhouse and Gaiety, Manchester
	Tommy in War in the Air by Frank Dupree	London Palladium
	Understudy for Reginald Sheffield as Buster in Never Say Die by W. H. Post	Apollo
	Charity matinee of A Little Fowl Play	London Opera House
	Slightly in Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie	Duke of York's
1914	Toured as Slightly in Peter Pan
1915	Slightly in Peter Pan	Duke of York's
	The Slacker in Where the Rainbow Ends	Garrick
1916	Charles Wykeham in Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas	tour
	Basil Pyecroft in The Light Blues, by Mark Ambient and Jack Hulbert (and understudy to Hulbert)	Shaftesbury
	Professional dancer with Eileen Denis at the Elysée restaurant
	Jack Morrison in The Happy Family, by Cecil Aldin and Adrian Ross	Prince of Wales
1917	Leicester Boyd in Wild Heather, by Dorothy Brandon	Gaiety, Manchester
	Ripley Guildford in The Saving Grace, by Haddon Chambers	Garrick
1918	Courtney Bourner in Scandal by Cosmond Harrison	Strand
1919	Ralph in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, by Francis Beaumont[n 27]	Birmingham Repertory
1920	Bobbie Dermott in his own play, I'll Leave It to You	Gaiety, Manchester and New
	Ralph in The Knight of the Burning Pestle	Kingsway
1921	Clay Collins in Polly with a Past, by George Middleton and Guy Bolton	St James's
1922	Sholto Brent in his own play, The Young Idea	Prince's Theatre, Bristol, and tour
1923	Sholto Brent	Savoy
	Appeared in London Calling! (of which he was co-author)	Duke of York's
1924	Nicky Lancaster in his own play, The Vortex	Everyman Hampstead and Royalty
1925	Nicky Lancaster	Comedy, Little, Henry Miller's, New York
1926	Lewis Dodd in The Constant Nymph , by Margaret Kennedy and Basil Dean	New
1928	Clark Storey in The Second Man, by S. N. Behrman	Playhouse Theatre
	Appeared in his own revue, This Year of Grace	Baltimore, and Selwyn Theatre, New York
1930	Captain Stanhope in Journey's End, by R. C. Sherriff	Victoria. Singapore
	Elyot Chase in his own play Private Lives	Tour and Phoenix.
	Fred in his own sketch Some Other Private Lives (charity matinee)	Hippodrome
1931	Elyot Chase in Private Lives	Times Square, New York
1933	Leo in his own play, Design for Living	Hanna Cleveland and Ethel Barrymore, New York
1934	Paul, Duc de Chaucigny-Varennes, in his own operetta, Conversation Piece	His Majesty's
1935	Pre-London tour in his own one-act plays, Tonight at 8.30
1936	Appeared in the ten plays of Tonight at 8.30	Phoenix
	Appeared in the same plays (with the exception of Star Chamber)	National, New York
1942	Charles Condomine in his own play, Blithe Spirit.[n 28]	St James's
	Toured in "Noël Coward's Play Parade" as Charles Condomine and as Garry Essendine and Frank Gibbons in his own plays, Present Laughter and This Happy Breed
1943	Garry Essendine in Present Laughter and Frank Gibbons in This Happy Breed	Haymarket
1945	Two performances in his own revue, Sigh No More.[n 29]	Piccadilly
1947	Garry Essendine in revival of Present Laughter	Haymarket
1948	Three performances in Tonight at 8.30 (Hands Across the Sea, Shadow Play and Fumed Oak) during US tour.[n 30]
	Appeared as Max Aramont in Joyeux Chagrins, the French translation of his Present Laughter	Théâtre Édouard VII, Paris
1951	Concert, performing his own songs as try-out for London season (below)	Theatre Royal, Brighton
	Solo cabaret season (October)	Café de Paris
1952	Two cabaret performances with Mary Martin in aid of the Actors' Orphanage (January and November)	Café de Paris
	Second solo cabaret season (June)	Café de Paris
1953	King Magnus in The Apple Cart, by Bernard Shaw	Haymarket
	Third London solo cabaret season	Café de Paris
	Appeared in Stars at Midnight, one-off performance in aid of the Actors' Orphanage	Palladium
1954	Introduced Marlene Dietrich's cabaret act	Café de Paris
	Appeared in Night of 100 Stars, in aid of the Actors' Orphanage	Palladium
	Fourth and final London solo cabaret season	Café de Paris
	Appeared at the Royal Variety Performance	Palladium
1955	Solo cabaret season at the Desert Inn, Las Vegas
1956	Narrated Ogden Nash's verses for Carnival of the Animals	Carnegie Hall, New York
1957	Sebastien in his own Nude with Violin	Tour and Belasco Theatre New York and second tour
1958	Garry Essendine in Present Laughter	Belasco Theatre and tour
	Appeared in Night of 100 Stars, in aid of the Actors' Orphanage	Palladium
	Appeared in gala cabaret in Nice
1966	Appeared in his own Suite in Three Keys as Sir Hugo Latymer (A Song at Twilight), George Hilgay (Shadows of the Evening) and Verner Conklin (Come Into the Garden, Maud)	Queen's

Source: Mander and Mitchenson.^[76]

Songs

Coward wrote more than three hundred songs.^[77] The Noël Coward Society's website, drawing on performing statistics from the publishers and the Performing Rights Society, names "Mad About The Boy" (from Words and Music) as Coward's most popular song, followed, in order, by:

• "I'll See You Again" (Bitter Sweet)
• "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (Words and Music)
• "If Love Were All" (Bitter Sweet)
• "Someday I'll Find You" (Private Lives)
• "I'll Follow My Secret Heart" (Conversation Piece)
• "London Pride" (1941)
• "A Room With a View" (This Year of Grace)
• "Mrs Worthington" (1934)
• "Poor Little Rich Girl" (On with the Dance)
• "The Stately Homes of England" (Operette)

In the society's second tier of favourites are:

• "The Party's Over Now" (Words and Music)
• "Dearest Love" (Operette)
• "Dear Little Café" (Bitter Sweet)
• "Parisian Pierrot" (London Calling!)
• "Men About Town" (Tonight at 8.30)
• "Twentieth Century Blues" (Cavalcade)
• "Uncle Harry" (Pacific 1860)
• "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans" (1943)
• "There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner" (Globe Review)
• "Dance, Little Lady" (This Year of Grace)
• "Has Anybody Seen Our Ship?" (Tonight at 8.30)
• "I Went to a Marvellous Party" (Set to Music)
• "Nina" (Sigh No More)
• "A Bar on the Piccola Marina" (1954)
• "Why Must the Show Go On?" (Together With Music)
• "Sail Away" (Ace of Clubs and Sail Away)
• "Zigeuner" (Bitter Sweet)

Source: Noël Coward Music Index and Lyrics of Noël Coward.^[78][79]

Cinema

Adaptations and original films

• The Queen Was in the Parlour, directed by Graham Cutts (UK, 1927, based on the play of the same name)
• Easy Virtue, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (UK, 1928, based on the play of the same name)
• The Vortex, directed by Adrian Brunel (UK, 1928, based on the play of the same name)
• Private Lives, directed by Sidney Franklin, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1931, based on the play of the same name)
• Tonight Is Ours, directed by Stuart Walker, Paramount (1933, based on the play The Queen Was in the Parlour)
• Cavalcade, directed by Frank Lloyd, 20th Century Fox (1933, based on the play of the same name)
• Bitter Sweet, directed by Herbert Wilcox (UK, 1933, based on the operetta of the same name)
• Design for Living, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Paramount (1933, based on the play of the same name)
• Les amants terribles (The Terrible Lovers), directed by Marc Allégret (France, 1936, based on the play Private Lives)
• Bitter Sweet, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1940, based on the operetta of the same name)
• In Which We Serve, original film, directed by Coward and David Lean, British Lion (1942). Screenplay by Coward.
• We Were Dancing, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1942, based on the plays We Were Dancing, Ways and Means and Private Lives)
• This Happy Breed, directed by David Lean, Universal (UK, 1944, based on the play of the same name) (Coward was also a producer)
• Blithe Spirit, directed by David Lean (UK, 1945, based on the play of the same name) (Coward was also a producer)
• Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean (UK, 1945, based on the play Still Life) (Coward was also a screenwriter and producer)
• The Astonished Heart, directed by Terence Fisher (UK, 1950, based on the play of the same name) (Coward was also a screenwriter)
• Meet Me Tonight, directed by Anthony Pelissier (UK, 1952, based on the plays Ways and Means, Red Peppers, and Fumed Oak)
• Pretty Polly, directed by Guy Green (UK, 1967, based on the short story Pretty Polly Barlow)
• Brief Encounter, directed by Alan Bridges (UK, 1974, based on the play Still Life)
• Relative Values, directed by Eric Styles (UK, 2000, based on the play of the same name)
• Easy Virtue, directed by Stephan Elliott (UK, 2008, based on the play of the same name)^[80]

Source: Mander and Mitchenson.^[81]

Actor

• Hearts of the World (1918) (uncredited)
• The Scoundrel (1935) as Anthony Mallare
• Men Are Not Gods (1936) (uncredited)
• In Which We Serve (1942) as Captain E.V. Kinross (also a screenwriter, producer and co-director)
• Blithe Spirit (1945) (uncredited narrator) (also producer)
• Brief Encounter (1945) (uncredited narrator) (also a screenwriter and co-producer)
• The Astonished Heart (1950) as Dr. Christian Faber
• Blithe Spirit (1956 TV film) as Charles Condomine
• Around the World in 80 Days (1956) as Roland Hesketh-Baggott
• Our Man in Havana (1959) as Hawthorne
• Surprise Package (1960) as King Pavel II
• Paris When It Sizzles (1964) as Alexander Meyerheim
• Ninety Years On (1964 TV film) as Narrator / Host
• Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) as Horatio Wilson
• Androcles and the Lion (1967 TV film) as Caesar
• Boom! (1968) as The Witch of Capri
• The Italian Job (1969) as Mr. Bridger

Source: Mander and Mitchenson.^[82]