The Vortex (Modern Classics) - Tapa blanda

All the anxiety of the early 1920s, post-war twitchiness glossed by martinis and mannered cigarettes, is caught in Noel Coward's The Vortex. His central characters are like specks of dirt approaching the plughole of a draining bath. The closer they get to the hole, the faster they spiral. Daily Mail One of the mysterious things about Noel Coward, and one of the sure indications that he is a great writer, is that he constantly takes you by surprise. Daily Telegraph The Vortex (1924) was the play that made his name and firmly established him as both a dramatist and an actor - he'd been at pains to ensure the play included "a whacking good part" for himself - and it was the roaring twenties equivalent of today's socalled in-yer-face theatre, the Shopping and F***ing of the jazz age. Daily Telegraph Of all Noel Coward's plays The Vortex is the only one whose shock appeal has survived more or less intact. Evening Standard Noel Coward's The Vortex is his darkest play: a remarkable combination of shallow and deep ... it's a drama that wipes the smile from its own face. Observer

A single-volume edition of one of Coward's masterpieces, published to tie in with major Donmar Warehouse production in December 2002 In The Vortex, Coward explores the darker side of the Cocktail Party set. Emotional blackmail, drug abuse and shattered relationships are minutely observed in this disturbing, early piece from a playwright whose sharp eye was more usually turned towards the light. This first ever single-volume edition of this frequently revived Coward play ties in with the major revival directed by Michael Grandage, starring Francesca Annis and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Indira Varma at London's Donmar Warehouse. "Here is a piece which is the dernier cri in the theatrical mode, un peu shocking perhaps, but no less popular on that account" James Agate