PLAYBILL

Synopsis

An evening of one-act plays by Noel Coward. In Ways and Means, a debt-plagued gambler and his wife are saved from final disgrace when a chauffeur who had planned to rob them saves them instead. Still Life depicts the frustrated secret affair between two married middle-class people. Fumed Oak follows a middle-aged salesman who has earned enough money to tell off his wife, mother-in-law and daughter and to leave them.

Note: The original 1936 production of Tonight at 8:30 contained nine one-act plays performed over three evenings, including We Were Dancing, The Astonished Heart, Red Peppers, Hands Across the Sea, Fumed Oak, Shadow Play, Ways and Means and Still Life. Six one-acts (Red Peppers, Hands Across the Sea, Fumed Oak, Family Album, Shadow Play, and Ways and Means) were performed in a 1948 revival. Only three of the one-acts were performed in the 1967 revival.