Fallen Angels by Noel Coward

Bassinaud Players present Fallen Angels by Noel Coward from Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th September at 7pm here at Bassinaud, 16190 Juignac. Save €2 per ticket before the end of July by using the offer code ANGELS here.

What is it about?

Five years into their supposedly happy marriages, Jane and Julia’s perfectly polished lives are thrown into disarray when an old flame announces his sudden return to London. Past passions and present desires – along with generous helpings of champagne – send the two friends into a frenzy of anticipation, jealousy, and determination to choose their own destinies. Set in the glamorous 1920s, this classic from Noël Coward is a hilarious excavation of the complexities of love and desire.

This amateur production of “Fallen Angels” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk 

Reception for the original 1925 production

When Noël Coward’s Fallen Angels premiered at London's Globe Theatre in April 1925, it caused a massive moral panic, polarizing critics while becoming an absolute smash hit at the box office. At just 24 years old, Coward had written a comedy about two married women who openly admit to premarital sex, confess they are bored with their husbands, and get progressively, hilariously drunk while waiting for a mutual French ex-lover to arrive.

Before the play even hit the stage, the British theatrical censor (the Office of the Lord Chamberlain) threatened to ban it entirely, labelling it "extremely dubious," heavily objecting to the characters' "obvious willingness to go wrong" and what they called a "quite unnecessary frankness of expression among women"!

Ultimately, the moral outrage backfired perfectly. The negative press gave the show massive "FOMO" factor and the controversy sent ticket demand through the roof. The telephone at the box office rang off the hook for months.  Coward, ever the master of witty composure, took the media circus in his stride. When asked about the scathing reviews, he famously joked to a reporter, "I really have a frightfully depraved mind, haven’t I?"