Originally published: Heinemann, 1936.

We were dancing -- The astonished heart -- 'Red peppers' -- Hands across the sea -- Fumed oak -- Shadow play -- Ways and means -- Still life -- Family album -- Star chamber.

Written as a vehicle for Coward's own acting talents, alongside his frequent stage partner Gertrude Lawrence, Tonight at 8:30 is his ambitious series of ten one-act plays with which he breathed new life into the one-act form. First performed in London in 1936, the plays perfectly showcase Coward's talents as a playwright, providing a sparkling, fast paced and remarkably varied selection of theatrical gems. All ten plays have been collected together into one volume that features both Coward's own preface and an introduction by Barry Day, editor of The Letters of Noel Coward. Coward wrote of the first series of three plays with characteristi- cs delight: 'They are all brilliantly written, exquisitely directed, and I am bewitching in all of them.' Gertrude Lawrence wrote to Coward in 1947, 'Dearest Noel, wherever I go ... all I hear is 'Please revive Tonight at 8:30!''

Plays & Playwrights.

Performing Arts.