''I'll Leave It to You'' is a play by

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), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

. He wrote it in 1919, when he was aged 19, and it was produced in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and then the West End of London in 1920. Described as "a light comedy in three acts", the play portrays an uncle's successful stratagem to provoke his idle nieces and nephews into working hard and making careers for themselves.

Background

had been a child actor and then a budding juvenile lead. In his spare time, encouraged by his close friend and colleague Esmé Wynne, he began to write stories, songs and plays. He was further encouraged by the producer Gilbert Miller, who suggested the idea for ''I'll Leave It to You''. Miller presented the play at the

Gaiety Theatre, Manchester The Gaiety Theatre, Manchester was a theatre in Manchester, England. It opened in 1884 and was demolished in 1959. It replaced a previous Gaiety Theatre on the site that had been destroyed by fire. The new theatre was designed by Alfred Darby ...

, on 3 May 1920, directed by Stanley Bell; it ran for 24 performances there and then transferred to the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) in London, where it ran from 21 July for 37 performances. It was the first of Coward's plays to be staged.

Roles and original cast

*Mrs Dermott – Kate Cutler :Her children: :*Oliver – Douglas Jefferies :*Evangeline – Muriel Pope :*Sylvia – Stella Jesse :*Bobbie – Noël Coward :*Joyce – Moya Nugent *Daniel Davis (her brother) – Farren Soutar (Manchester); E. Holman Clark (London) *Mrs Crombie – Lois Stuart *Faith Crombie – Esmé Wynne *Griggs (butler) – David Clarkson

Plot

The widowed Mrs Dermott is struggling to maintain her large country house. Her children are unenthusiastic about earning a living to help support the household. Her brother arrives from South America, where he owns a mine. He tells the family that he has three years to live and will leave his large fortune to whichever of his five nieces and nephews carves out the most successful career. All five rise to the challenge, in a diverse range of employment – industry, painting, music, acting, and novel-writing. Within eighteen months they all make good, and once it is clear that they have done so, Uncle Daniel reveals that he is in excellent health but has no money – his mine is unproductive and worthless. They are at first indignant at his deception, but one by one they recognise that he has deceived them for their own good, and that without him they would not be the successes they have become. Finally a telegram arrives for Daniel, announcing the discovery of gold in his mine. There is jubilation all round, except from his favourite niece, Sylvia, who asks him quietly, "Uncle, did you send that telegram to yourself?". "Yes!!" he admits, as the curtain falls.

Critical reception

Neville Cardus Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (2 April 188828 February 1975) was an English writer and critic. From an impoverished home background, and mainly self-educated, he became ''The Manchester Gua ...

's praise in ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' was grudging: he called the play "an essay in facetiousness". Notices for the London production were mixed, but encouraging. ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' commented, "Mr Coward... has a sense of comedy, and if he can overcome a tendency to smartness, he will probably produce a good play one of these days." ''

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK. Its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launch ...

'' thought the piece "freshly written and brightly acted" despite "a certain striving after comic effect". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' was enthusiastic: "It is a remarkable piece of work from so young a head – spontaneous, light, and always 'brainy'.""I'll Leave It to You", ''The Times'', 22 July 1920, p. 10

Background

Roles and original cast

Plot

Critical reception

References and sources

References

Sources

External links