''The Queen Was in the Parlour: a romance in three acts'' is a play by the English writer
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
. Although written in 1922 it was not produced until 24 August 1926, when it was premiered at the
St Martin's Theatre
St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of ''The Mousetrap'' since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world.
The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue, in t ...
.
The play is Coward's only venture into
Ruritanian
Ruritania is a fictional country, originally located in central Europe as a setting for novels by Anthony Hope, such as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1894). Nowadays the term connotes a quaint minor European country, or is used as a placeholder name f ...
romance. It was well received, and ran for 136 performances. The play has not been revived in the
West End.
Background and first production
In 1922 Coward was a rising playwright, but he had yet to become famous.
[Hoare, Philip]
"Coward, Sir Noël Peirce
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 7 April 2019 He wrote ''The Queen Was in the Parlour'' in the spring of 1922 while staying in
St Mary in the Marsh in Kent, and between its creation and its first production, four years later, it was given the title ''Nadya'', and later ''Souvenir'' before the final title was adopted. By 1926 ''
The Vortex
''The Vortex'' is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the ...
'' (1924) and ''
Hay Fever
Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. Signs and symptoms include a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, red, i ...
'' (1925) had made Coward's name,
[ and the producer ]Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unoff ...
staged ''The Queen Was in the Parlour'', directing it himself.[Mander and Mitchenson, p. 71] The play opened at the St Martin's Theatre
St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of ''The Mousetrap'' since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world.
The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue, in t ...
on 14 August 1926,["St. Martin's Theatre"]
''The Times'', 25 August 1926, p. 8 and transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...
on 4 October, running in total for 136 performances.[Mander and Mitchenson, p. 65]
Original cast
*Nadya – Madge Titheradge
Madge Titheradge (2 July 1887 14 November 1961) was an Australian-born actress who became a leading actress in the West End of London and on Broadway.
She began as a child actress before the First World War, and went on to star in the 1920s and ...
*Sabien Pastal – Francis Lister
Francis Lister (2 April 1899 – 28 October 1951) was a British actor. He was married to the actresses Nora Swinburne (1924–32) and Margot Grahame (1934-36).
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
*ThFrancis Lister Collectionis held by ...
*Zana – Freda Godfrey
*General Krish – C. M. Hallard
*Miss Phipps – Ada King
*Court Usher – C. Disney Roebuck
*Prince Keri of Zalgar – Herbert Marshall
Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Uni ...
*Grand Duchess Emilie –Lady Tree
Helen Maud Holt (5 October 1863 – 7 August 1937), professionally known as Mrs Beerbohm Tree and later Lady Tree, was an English actress. She was the wife of the actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and the mother of Viola Tree, Felicity Tree and Ir ...
Synopsis
Act I
Scene 1: Nadya's flat in Paris. 5.00 a.m.
Nadya, the young widow of Archduke Alexander of Krayia, enters with her fiancé, Sabien. They are both tired of partying and agree to get married and settle down. Standing in the early sunlight they drink champagne to their future happiness, but as they do so the sun goes behind a cloud.
Scene 2: The same. A few hours later.
After Sabien has gone home, General Krish arrives from Krayia with the news that the king has been assassinated and that Nadya, being next in succession, must return to Krayia as its queen. Nadya is horrified, but the general convinces her that it is her duty, as the country is dangerously unstable, with revolution in the air, and her presence may calm matters. She sadly writes Sabien a farewell letter.
Act II
The private apartments of the queen. One year later, in the afternoon.
Nadya is to marry Prince Keri of Zalgar. A shot is heard: someone has tried to shoot Nadya as she arrives in her carriage, but the assassin's aim was deflected by a man in the crowd. Nadya and Keri meet for the first time, and amicably agree that the interests of state oblige them to marry, although each has had to give up a true love to do so. The shrewd old Grand Duchess Emilie, who has seen off three husbands, arrives for tea with the royal couple and General Krish, and quickly sees how matters rest. At Krish's suggestion Nadya grants a private audience to the man in the crowd who saved her life. It turns out to be Sabien. He tells her that he cannot bear to see her marry another man, and will shoot himself. He pleads with her to spend one final night with him, to which after a show of reluctance, she agrees.
Act III
Scene 1: The same as Act II. In the evening.
Sabien arrives and is concealed in an adjoining room by Nadya's loyal maid, Zana. Keri and Nadya enter and talk, agreeing that they will be friends "come weal, come woe". After he leaves, Nadya and Sabien dine together,
Scene 2: The same. A few hours later
It is four in the morning. Krish and Keri are in the queen's ante-room, keeping watch for civil unrest and insurrection. As a dangerous crowd gathers outside the palace, Nadya enters from the bedroom. She goes on the balcony and tells the mob to shoot her if they have the courage. Keri joins her and suggests that the crowd would be better off at home in bed, which makes them laugh and defuses the situation. After the crowd has dispersed, Nadya turns to Keri and begs his forgiveness. He is puzzled, but quickly understands matters when a shot is heard in Nadya's bedroom. He falls to one knee and kisses Nadya's hand.
:Source: Mander and Mitchenson.
Revivals and adaptations
''The Queen Was in the Parlour'' was revived at the Malvern Festival in 1932, by a company including Kate Cutler
Kate Ellen Louisa Cutler (14 August 1864 – 14 May 1955) was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ''ingénue'' in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramati ...
and the young James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...
. Mander and Mitchenson
Raymond Mander (15 July 1911 – 27 December 1983) and Joe Mitchenson (4 October 1911 – 7 October 1992) were theatre historians and joint founders of a large collection of theatrical memorabilia.
Both began their careers as actors, but what b ...
's ''Theatrical Companion to Noël Coward'' (2000) notes that there has never been a major London or New York revival.
The play has been adapted for film twice. An Anglo-German version under the original title, was filmed in 1927, starring Lili Damita
Lili Damita (born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré; 10 July 1904 – 21 March 1994) was a French-American actress and singer who appeared in 33 films between 1922 and 1937.
Early life and education
Lili Damita was born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Car ...
and Paul Richter
Paul Richter (1 April 1895 – 30 December 1961) was an Austrian film actor. He owed his great popularity in German films of the silent era largely to the directors Joe May and Fritz Lang.
Biography
Richter made his film debut right before W ...
. It was premiered at the Avenue Pavilion, London February 1928. In 1933 an American film version, ''Tonight Is Ours
''Tonight Is Ours'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Stuart Walker and starring Claudette Colbert, Fredric March and Alison Skipworth. Made by Paramount Pictures, it is based on the play '' The Queen Was in the Parlour'' by ...
'' starred Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...
and Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, p ...
.
Critical reception
The press expressed mild surprise that Coward, who had gained fame for his daringly controversial ''The Vortex'', should turn to Ruritanian romance, but the reviews were generally friendly. ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' said " _In_''The_Daily_Mail.html" ;"title="[his is Mr. Coward in romantic vein, and little else matters so long as the romance goes with a swing. This it does indeed."[ In ''The Daily Mail">[his is Mr. Coward in romantic vein, and little else matters so long as the romance goes with a swing. This it does indeed."][ In ''The Daily Mail'', Alan Parsons wrote, "It is all strong stuff, some of it witty stuff, some of it hot stuff, but Mr. Coward shows that he can construct what is known as a 'a well-made play' with the best of the Victorians. In ''The Observer'', St. John Greer Ervine, St John Ervine wrote:
:Mr. Coward gives us both his best and his worst in generous measure. There are passages and even scenes in this play so poverty-stricken and dull that one has difficulty in believing that anybody wrote them. They are followed by passages and scenes so swiftly sincere and dramatic that one is certain that nobody but Mr. Coward could have written them. He tells a story here, and tells it very well, but he still shows signs of too great facility.
Looking back in the 1950s, Coward wrote:
:It was my one and only expedition into Ruritania and I enjoyed it very much. Ruritania is a dangerous country where romantic clichés lurk in every throne-room, but at that time I was young and eager and valiantly oblivious of them. ... on the whole, I didn't make a bad job of it. The first act in Paris is a little forced and over-hectic, but the second and third acts contain some good moments. ... The whole play was illuminated by the magic of Madge Titheradge's acting. Her restrained emotion in the farewell supper scene ... and her stillness and dignity at the end of the play I shall always remember with loving gratitude.][''Quoted'' in Mander and Mitchenson, pp. 71–72]
References
Sources
*
*
External links
* Full text of
The Queen Was in the Parlour
' at the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Was In The Parlour, The
1922 plays
1926 plays
Plays by Noël Coward
West End plays
British plays adapted into films