Deeper Waters

Design for Living with its world of insiders and outsiders and its triangle of characters connects with earlier plays with themes on the morality and psychology of success. It resembles black comedy or the theatre of the absurd, subverting conventional morality with popular Freudianism, scientific determinism and a principle of loyalty only to the inner circle—a significant experiment with disturbing implications. Conversation Piece, a musical play with the French Yvonne Printemps playing opposite Coward in a Regency setting, disappoints romantic expectation and puts nothing in its place. Point Valaine is a psychological drama of jealousy with Strindbergian undertones. Below a surface of routine verbal exchange powerful feelings smoulder and erupt, beginning with non-verbal and symbolic expression and ending in violence. Tonight at 8.30, a group of nine one-act plays, was written for Coward and Gertrude Lawrence to show off the variety and virtuosity of their talent.