Design for Living
From: Thursday, 26th January 2012
To: Saturday, 25 February 2012
Our Review: 
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Synopsis
Design for Living follows the fortunes of Gilda, Otto and Leo, a trio of decadent 30-something artists who travel from Paris to London to New York as their fame increases. The complex and revolving relationships between the three conclude themselves in a highly provocative manner, flying in the face of convention and their public profile. The notion of a ménage a trois, shocking in 1932 when the play was written is still provocative today and Coward's play has much to tell us about celebrity status, sexual mores and the nature of fidelity.
Our Review:
Simon Cole - 27 January 2012
Design for Living is an intriguing and challenging comedy written by Noel Coward in 1932, and is crammed full of the author’s wit, style and flamboyance. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward himself, it premiered on Broadway, in part because its subject matter was thought too risqué to pass the Lord Chamberlain, the then official censor to the London stage. It was not until 1939 that a London production, with Diana Wynward, Anton Walbrook and Rex Harrison was finally presented. By this time of course, Coward’s style of chic comedies of manners was beginning to date, and the play’s power to shock diminished by the specter of the oncoming war, which was to halt the run after 233 performances.
The story revolves around the three central characters, Otto (Kieran Hill) a painter, Leo (Gyuri Sarossy) a playwright and Gilda (Marianne Oldham) a sort of ‘muse’ to them both. The trio a...
Creative
Noel Coward (Author)
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