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AuthorNoel Coward
NarratorFull Cast
Duration11h 55m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Music and the Arts
PublisherBBC Audio
VersionUnabridged
Seven BBC radio full-cast productions of Noël Coward's classic plays – plus bonus material including a profile of Coward and extracts from his diaries
Renowned for his wit, style and sophistication, Noël Coward was one of the greatest playwrights of the twentieth century. His plays, set in the glittering world of high society in which he lived, are much admired and have remained in the popular theatre repertoire to this day.
This collection brings together the very best radio adaptations of Coward's works, encompassing sparkling comedies of manners Private Lives and Hay Fever, farcical ghost story Blithe Spirit, and daring ménage à trois drama Design for Living. Here, too, is his controversial first hit The Vortex; the poignant Still Life (the inspiration for the film Brief Encounter); and the semi-autobiographical Present Laughter.
Among the star-studded cast are Helena Bonham-Carter, Bill Nighy, Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Roger Allam, Harriet Walter, Paul Rhys, Stephanie Cole and Paul Scofield.
Also included is a BBC World Service profile of Noël Coward, comprising interviews, musical extracts and archive clips; and the BBC Radio 4 programme 'From His Diaries', featuring a selection of passages from Coward's journal read by Simon Cadell.
Author: Noel Coward
Author Noel Coward
Narrator Full Cast
Duration 1h 28m
Paul Scofield and Patricia Routledge star in Noel Coward's classic comedy of manners. Private Lives was written in 1930 and has been a mainstay of British theatre ever since. This sharply funny play of reversals focuses on Elyot and Amanda, a passionate but feuding couple who divorced five years before. Now, on the first night of their honeymoons w...
View BookAuthor: Noel Coward
Author Noel Coward
Narrator Various
Duration 1h 16m
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View BookAuthor: Noel Coward
Author Noel Coward
Narrator Full Cast, John Moffatt, Rosemary Leach
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John Moffatt and Rosemary Leach star in this BBC Radio 4 production of Noel Coward's patriotic play about the ups and downs of a working-class family between 1919 and 1939 'This Happy Breed' opens in 1919, when the Gibbons family have just moved to their smart new home in the suburbs of South London. Against a background of social change and nation...
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Author Books Listening
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View BookAuthor: Noel Coward
Author Noel Coward
Narrator Full Cast
Duration 1h 27m
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Narrator Daniel Levitin
Duration 11h 46m
Brought to you by Penguin. Using musical examples from Bach to the Beatles, Levitin reveals the role of music in human evolution, shows how our musical preferences begin to form even before we are born and explains why music can offer such an emotional experience. Music is an obsession at the heart of human nature, even more fundamental to our spec...
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Author Uwe Schutte
Narrator Sam Peter Jackson
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