Semi Monde
From: Wednesday, 7th March 2001
To: Saturday, 9 June 2001
Our Review: 
Your Reviews:
Search for tickets
Use the link below to search for Semi Monde tickets on your desired date.
We're sorry, it seems that we do not currently sell tickets for this show. Please go directly to the box office.
| Tweet |
|
Synopsis
The action takes place in the cocktail bar of the Ritz Hotel in the years between the two World Wars. The well-heeled guests slip, with practised sophistication, from one relationship to another, seemingly oblivious to the world outside.
Our Review:
27 March 2001
I have to confess, after last year's Noel Coward centenary and a seemingly endless rash of revivals, I am, quite frankly, Cowarded out. This production of Semi Monde - playing cheek by Shaftesbury jowl with yet another Coward camp-out, Fallen Angels - has put the nail in the coffin of my waning interest.
Really, darling, I truly ache to adore it - honest, dear one. But it's all so frightfully boring. One just can't take it seriously.
But oh, pish-posh, let's not be so damnably cynical (it's hard to stop talking like that once you start, isn't it?). Semi Monde, directed and designed by Philip Prowse, has got some redeemable features. There's a great cast. Though Hitchcock old-timer Farley Granger pulled out (too embarrassed?), this ensemble piece still boasts some reliable stalwarts in the likes of Nichola McAuliffe, Georgina Hale, Simon Dutton and the stunning Sophie Ward.
And the actors spiff up wonderfully, all in black with...
Latest User Review
USER: Whatsonstage.com - 9 April 2001:
This is quite one of the most interesting theatrical reclamations London has seen in a long while. It has taken exactly three quarters of a century for Noel Coward’s 1926 play to reach the West End, and its been long overdue. Part of the reason why its taken so long was simply cost -- its a brave producer who can field a company of 30-odd (and some very odd, but we like it like that!) actors. So bravo Thelma Holt! But also its risque content -- upfront representations of gay trysts, lesbian ones, bi-sexual toyboys, and marital infidelities -- precluded presentation until 1968, when the Lord Chamberlain's office finally lost its grip on matters of theatrical propriety. Set in a plush Paris hotel foyer and bar, it observes – with sly wit and alluring detail – the parade of personalities that pass through it. As superbly rendered by this fantastic cast, Philip Prowse's magnificent production gives this impressionistic piece a beautifully textured and lovingly rendered performance....
Creative
Noel Coward (Author)
Thelma Holt (Producer)
Karl Sydow (Producer)
Philip Prowse (Director)
Philip Prowse (Design)
Gerry Jenkinson (Lighting)
Related Whatsonstage.com Articles
Information
|
