The Vortex

by Noël Coward

A single-volume edition of Noel Coward's famous play, published to tie in with major Donmar Warehouse production in December 2002.

In The Vortex, Coward explores the darker side of those Bright Young Things, c 1923. Emotional blackmail, drug abuse and immoral relationships are observed in this early, once scandalous work from the playwright-actor, which made Coward a star. "Here is a piece which is the dernier cri in the theatrical mode, un peu shocking perhaps, but no less popular on that account," twittered James Agate in the Sunday Times.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Classics, Fiction, British Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. Among his achievements, he received an Academy Certificate of Merit at the 1943 Academy Awards for "outstanding production achievement for In Which We Serve."

Known for his wit, flamboyance, and personal style, his plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006.

Reviews

[Samane⚘️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

تازه می‌فهمم تو دنیایی زندگی می‌کردم که چنین اتفاقاتی توش می‌افتاده؛ حالا باید با این چیزا رو در رو بشم و ببینم این زندگی چقدر می‌ارزه کاش جسارت داشتم زودتر همه چیز رو می‌فهمیدم. اون وقت حالا دیگه اینقدر حس بدی نداشتم.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my third Coward play, one of his early ones, and I didn't find it as good as either Private Lives or Blithe Spirit. Read it from the Collected Plays Vol. 1, which features three other plays I haven't yet read. It covers some interesting themes, including vanity and the obsession with youth and beauty, and is, for the most part, awash with cocktails and cigarettes, and poisonous catty friends rolling their eyes during a house party. The play captures the upper crust of 1920s London really well, and of the characters, the socialite mother Florence, who, while her young pianist son Nicky (whose entrance ups the level of unease) was away in Paris, had a succession of lovers half her age, was my favourite. While the later scenes with lots of bickering were the funniest, it was the subtle early parts that had a deeper level of emotion to it, as Florence faces up to the terror of getting old. The play was easy to get into, and made sense to read it in one go.

[Sketchbook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Intense, nervous, hysterical --- here's the 1924 play that made Coward famous. Queer son, living in Paris, returns home to England where mum, in her 40s, is romancing a chap in his 20s. A lot of arguing, dancing amid bitchy chit-chat in which we learn the son takes cocaine and has no interest in the woman he seems engaged to. A vacuous play w mum & son slobbering together at the finale. Critics now explain that the cocaine is code for same sex dalliances, but so what; only interesting as a curio that created Noel Coward.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: When it premiered in 1924, it was a controversial play, dealing with issues such as drug addiction and immorality in the family. The final confrontation between the two main characters is very powerful. This is the third time I've watched it in a BBC version.

ESPAÑOL: Cuando se estrenó en 1924 fue una obra polémica, por tratar de cuestiones como drogadicción e inmoralidad en la familia. El enfrentamiento final entre los dos personajes principales tiene mucha fuerza. Esta es la tercera vez que la veo representar, en versión de la BBC.

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am inescapably drawn to stories in which there is something glaringly twisted, wrong, or psychologically off-putting about the characters. This script was not as outrightly disturbing as, for instance, 'Buried Child,' by Sam Shepard, but revealed a side of the elite that we all know exists but no one wants to talk about. In a plot where everyone knows something is wrong, most playwrights choose to give their characters grand blind eyes, and all avoid confrontation on the topic as much as they can. Coward, courageously, writes characters that are so into each others' business that they take every opportunity to notice and talk about these glaring flaws, not only amongst each other, but with the characters who have them.

The exposure of this plot is quite well-paced, assuming it is played as such, with typical quick-witted English charm. The final act is a culmination of everything the reader has been pondering but has been too self-satisfied or too nervous to admit to the characters, drawn out. Save for the second scene which, as noted, would be extremely difficult to execute, but sounds veritably ingenious, this play is a sound representation of how we all hide from each other and ourselves, to keep our lives moving in the direction we might want them to.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The vortex of beastliness"



The notorious 1924 drama lifting the lid on the lives of the country house set and what a plate of worms it is too, climaxing in Oedipal angst.

[Robyn333 · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a big argument about life,

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
The notorious 1924 drama lifting the lid on the lives of the country house set. Stars Elizabeth Sellars and Martin Jarvis.

[Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters are so ghastly, I found this difficult to listen to!

[T. Tokunaga · Rating 4 out of 5]

【Bitter Sweet and The Vortex / Noël Coward, ed. Yoshio Nakano / 1935, Kenkyu-sha.】

This is a Japan-edited (but not translated) version of Noël Coward's rather minor works, Bitter Sweet and the Vortex. Bitter Sweet is an operetta also composed by Coward - with more of a jazz big band though, and The Vortex is a melodrama tinged less with comic banters than major works of Coward. However, they're both exquisitely entertaining.

Both of them have a sort of dismal, or can even be called a tragicomedy with quirky Deus Ex Machina - but the protagonists themselves function as the salvation for the play (please forgive my spoiler here though). These tragicomedy scenes sound somewhat ironic as Cowardian irony especially on domestic life goes, and even more in the former with its fusion of verse play as popular songs, which is also seen in the contemporary works of Bertold Brecht, similar even in the kinetic stiffness intended here and there:

--Mrs. M. And Mr. Proutie?
Gloria. He was so tired he left early.
Mrs. M. Come out from behind that sofa, Mr. Proutie.
(Mr. Proutie comes out, looking very sheepish. All the girls giggle. Mr. Proutie is very young and cherubic.)
Mr. P. I - I fell asleep - I apologise.
Mrs. M. I quite understand. (p. 40., Bitter Sweet, Act 1, Scene 3)

--Pawnie. Poor Clara - she eternally labours under the delusion that she really matters. (p. 141., The Vortex, Act 1)

--Nicky. Pawnje and Helen and Clara are trying to teach Bruce Fairlught; he's an awful fool at it [mah-jong]. (He sits down at the piano and plays absently.)
Florence. You must get Bundy out of that habit of contradicting everything people say.
Nicky. I don't see why. (p. 186, The Vortex, Act 2)

[Marty Reeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how I stumbled across Noel Coward as a playwright, but in one of my rabbit hole ventures (always on the lookout for new plays to read … preferably those in the public domain so I don’t have to pay to read them!), I noted that Coward was a prolific and very well regarded playwright in his day, and I had not even heard of him let alone read any of his works.

This led to selecting The Vortex. Immediately, I found myself plunging into a comfortable play with characters displaying sharp and clever dialogue being put in situations that bring emotional relationships to a head in a meaningful and poignant way without being overly-bombastic about it. That is not easy to accomplish, and he does it with aplomb.

In The Vortex Coward looks at an aging diva who is struggling to come to terms with her loss of youth by cavorting in flings with younger men who help her feel more like her bygone years of glory. Her son is going through his own troubles with love and commitment, and when the two and their current lovers happen upon a weekend together, it brings these emotional/reality suppressants to a head. Something has to give, and the realizations revealed are satisfying and reflective.

Coward is not interested in drama, but in the psyche brought about through dramatic situations. And I find satisfaction in his experiments. Even though this particular play did not have any character to love or even really root for, I think it is a worthwhile study from a thoughtful mind.

[Kai Bythesea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Noel Coward's The Vortex is a relatively obscure play. It was his first theatrical hit back in 1924 but it is not as sophisticated as Blithe Spirit or Private Lives which were Coward’s standout works. However, The Vortex is well worth reading especially for anyone interested in early depictions of queer characters.

The core story is about a young pianist named Nicky, his fiancé Bunty, and his mother Florence. In the midst of scenes where characters smoke elegantly, drink champagne, and even snort cocaine, the playwright explores risqué topics (by 1920’s standards) like promiscuity and homosexuality. What’s more, Coward manoeuvres his characters through emotionally overwrought scenes and often doesn’t even name the subject that is really being discussed. This tactic reflects an era of theatrical censorship and audience sensitivities but should also be seen as a testament to Coward’s skills. The play reflects a young Noel Coward being highly ambitious and slightly over-reaching. Few writers would steal and revamp a scene from Hamlet but Coward does, and he even makes it work.

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[Paul LaFontaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man returns from Paris and announces his engagement to a woman who ends up not wanting to marry him. His mother is theatrical and histrionic, and her lover turns out to love the former fiancee. It ends with an emotional showdown between mother and son.

Not my favorite of Coward's plays. Some moments of brilliance. Drugs as a proxy for homosexuality was clear, but played a smaller part in the action. The mother's antics were center stage.

Recommend with caution.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started well but ended kind of abruptly. I am super into the relationship between Nicky and Florence here as it feels like something new and unexplored but the ending didn’t stick it for me. Also Pawnie is an icon.

[Malvina · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting play. It would have shocked audiences in the 1920s, addressing such topics as a son with a drug addiction, and a mother who constantly has affairs with much younger men. I can also draw the 'Hamlet' parallel with the mother-son scene late in the play. Quite moralistic in its own way.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* for the Librivox full cast recording which I listened to.

This early play of Coward shows some of the themes that are featured in his later work but with a heavier hand and less humor. Still, it is worth a few hours of your time if you enjoy Coward's type of satire, which I do!

[Russio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably sensational and salacious at its time, this tale of affairs, somewhat Oedipally connecting a mother and son, is laced with narcotics too. The verbal savaging of a chintzy lampshade in the first scene by one of the acidic males marks it out as Coward from the off.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

O início do ano com a leitura de mais uma peça de Teatro de Noel Coward. Sempre de grande nível! Gosto da ironia, da futilidade e do drama. Adorava ver em palco português! :)

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the art of it, and it is interesting as a moment -- lots of Freudian theories washing around here -- but I did not really enjoy it.

[Kristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry to say that everyone sleeping with everyone else or wanting to do so was not a fun listen. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another sharp and witty play with some deep lines of script. Apparently the break out Coward work.

[Imogen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the dialogue in Noël Cowards work, but for this one- one of his earlier works from 1920, the plot didn't quite fit for me. I wouldn't have known quite what was going on if I hadn't read the forward I don't think. It was still worth reading though. Nobody writes British wit quite like Noël Coward in my opinion.

Review originally posted on Imogen’s Typewriter.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. This play seemed so much better 30+ years ago. It is still interesting as an excursion into early Coward and a didactic view of upper class frivolity, but I am not longer sure this is a great play. THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER would love this to be true.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family showdown concerning the vortex of beastliness, the crime of being loved, a desire for beauty, youthfulness and success. Fragile family bonds are put into question and possibly tarnished beyond repair.

[tenderfoot]

re-read 1/1993; in Play Parade

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too snobbish and pretentious

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMG don't let me become an old Lush! I appreciate Coward reminding us old girls to act our age.

[Rea Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much fun to read and I loved the characters and how dramatic it all was however I would have liked a bit more about the characters as sometimes it would be too little about one person!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much a darker, nastier Hay Fever, this play burrows down into the murky emotions of one family, in particular a mother and a son.

[Karwan Karwan]

i don't know