Noël Coward on (and in) Theatre

1

Early Stages

But I Heard the Curtain Going Up

The Boy Actor

I can remember, I can remember.

The months of November and December

Were filled for me with peculiar joys

So different from those of other boys.

For other boys would be counting the days

Until end of term and holiday times

But I was acting in Christmas plays

While they were taken to pantomimes.

I didn t envy their Eton suits,

Their children s dances and Christmas trees.

My life had wonderful substitutes

For such conventional treats as these.

I didn t envy their country larks,

Their organised games in panelled halls;

While they made snow-men in stately parks

I was counting the curtain calls.

I remember the auditions, the nerve-racking auditions:

Darkened auditorium and empty, dusty stage,

Little girls in ballet dresses practising positions

Gentlemen with pince-nez asking you your age.

Hopefulness and nervousness struggling within you,

Dreading that familiar phrase, Thank you, dear, no more.

Straining every muscle, every tendon, every sinew

To do your dance much better than you d ever done before.

Think of your performance. Never mind the others.

Never mind the pianist, talent must prevail.

Never mind the baleful eyes of other children s mothers

Glaring from the corners and willing you to fail.

I can remember. I can remember.

The months of November and December

Were more significant to me

Than other months could ever be

For they were the months of high romance

When destiny waited on tip-toe,

When every boy actor stood a chance

Of getting into a Christmas show,

Not for me the dubious heaven

Of being some prefect s protégé!

Not for me the Second Eleven.

For me, two performances a day.

Ah, those first rehearsals! Only very few lines:

Rushing home to mother, learning them by heart.

Enter Left through window Dots to mark the cue lines:

Exit with others Still, it was a

BARRY DAY was born in England and received his M.A. from Balliol College, Oxford. He has written and produced plays and musical revues showcasing the work of Noël Coward, the Lunts, Oscar Wilde, and others. Day is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Trustee of the No l Coward Foundation and was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

A thorough, useful, and handsomely produced compendium of [Coward s] extensive writing on the medium through which he most frequently and most effectively expressed himself . . . in Day s pages, Coward tells us that theater is not a place for ideas, for probing motive, for engaging with the dark or the barely understood in human life it is diversion, pure and simple. Simon Callow, Airmail
 
[Coward s] dual role equal parts revolutionary and reactionary is handsomely illuminated in Barry Day s Noël Coward on (and in) Theatre . . . Throughout, he addresses his subject with clear-eyed affection . . . compelling . . . a many-pieced mosaic of a man of many pieces. Brad Leithauser, Wall Street Journal

An illuminating collection of anecdotes, encomiums, and gripes . . . Theater fans will savor this portrait of a confident artist ( I am probably the best comedian alive ) whose wit wasn t confined to the stage . . . An entertaining peek behind the curtain at 60 years in the theater. Kirkus
 
Sparkling . . . Day s selections showcase Coward s dazzling prose, which is always lively, urbane, and stocked with well-aimed zingers . . . Theater pros and fans alike will revel in Coward s incisive, compulsively readable takes on showbiz. Publishers Weekly