Volcano

Synopsis

Recently widowed, Adela Shelly finds herself being wooed by the suave and charismatic Guy Littleton, a visitor to her elegant Caribbean house on the side of an island volcano. When Guy's acid-tongued wife, Melissa, decides to fly in and see off Adela, she doesn't count on Adela's best friend, Ellen, also falling for Guy's charms. As tensions begin to bubble under the surface, so does the volcano and the results are explosive.

Our Review:

17 July 2012

Volcano was never performed in Noel Coward’s lifetime, apparently judged either too scandalous in subject matter or too close a depiction of the real life affairs and intrigues of Coward’s celebrity friends. Producers Thelma Holt and Bill Kenwright present the first major production of the work, which gives an insight into Coward’s own tropical lifestyle during his time as a tax exile.

This isn’t quite a frothy drawing room comedy – and not just because it takes place on a Pacific island on the slopes of an ominously rumbling volcano! The trademark wit and web of tangled relationships are there in abundance, but this has a darker edge to it than many of Coward’s better known works.

The lynchpin of the piece is Jenny Seagrove as Adela, an attractive widow managing her late husband’s banana plantation and fending off the attentions of the raffish Guy Littleton. Seagrove carries off the role with seemingly effortless grace, delivering an understated and subtly nuanced...

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