Noel Coward’s Amazing Output

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 690, 15 June 1929, Page 24

Noel Coward’s Amazing Output

Auckland Will See His Most Amusing Play BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS CAREER When “Hay Fever” is presented by the Little Theatre Society Aucklanders ■will see one of the finest examples of the work of Noel Coward, England's most astonishing young man of the theatre. Coward will be only 30 years of age on December 16 and yet he has a score of successful plays to his credit. This prolific young man has also written numberless musical pieces, sketches for revues and now he has amazed his admirers by writing both music and libretto for a brilliant light opera. Perhaps Coward’s most successful piece has been his revue “This Year of Grace,” for which he wrote the music, sketches and songs, and received a small fortune In royalties. In addition to his facilities for writing Coward is also an excellent actor. Long before he began writing plays and music he had made his name on the West End stage, playing in support of Sir Charles Hawtrey and several other well-known London actors and actresses. Coward’s first play “I’ll Leave It to You” was produced at the New Theatre, London, in 1920. Since then scarcely a year has gone by without something from his pen being presented to English and American audiences. Not all Coward's plays have been successful, but none of them is without some merit. "Hay Fever” has been the most successful, principally because of its delicious, bubbling wit. "The Vortex” enjoyed a long run with Coward himself in one of the leading roles. “Fall&n Angels,” "The Rat Trap,” “The Queen Was in the Parlour,” are only a few of his stage successes. He was part author of “London Calling” and “Chariot’s Revue,” both of which enjoyed long runs in London. Despite the enormous output of plays and musical pieces Coward has written two books of essays, “A Withered Nosegay” and “Terribly Intimate Portraits” and a collection of verse which he calls “Poems of Herina Whittlebot.”

Success has not spoiled this enter

prising young man. His travels are recorded extravagantly in the English and American papers and each new production receives the keenest attention from the critics.

And yet, despite these “handicaps,” he remains a quiet, unassuming young man.

“Hay Fever” will he presented at the concert chamber by the Little Theatre Society for a season of tour nights beginning on June 26. The booking is heavy.