In five dexterously argued chapters, John Lahr investigates all the many plays and many of Coward’s lesser known pieces.
Hay Fever, Private Lives, and
Design for Living, for instance, make a fascinating group of “Comedies of
Bad Manners”.
Blithe Spirit and
Relative Values raise “The Ghost in the Fun Machine”. In all Coward’s stage work, Lahr detects a coherent philosophy in which charm is both the subject and the trap which makes his very public life a perpetual performance in which frivolity—both as a mask and an admission of Coward’s own guarded homosexuality—tested the “normal” world and made his own self-involvement irresistible.
“A stunning, thoughtful, and very good guide to Coward’s plays.”
