Is it me or did the quality go up. Like compare the scene they reanimated from the first OP. This one looks so much better

having finally listened to other noel coward plays, design for living is god damn INSANE. ive listened to hay fever and present laughter, and read the first act of blythe spirit. all these plays are comedically structured, hilarity building on the goofy relationships btwn the characters. there’s a “oh you!” sense to the humor. there’s also constant play w social conventions in these plays. the climax of present laughter is the successive moments ppl propose to join him at the end — one a girlfriend who SAYS she doesnt expect marriage and another a man who is obsessed with him (which is explicitly made a joke of when our main says something like “i suppose he doesnt want to get married either”). hay fever has both romantic unconventionalities (the mother and the guy she invites who is funnily pursued by the daughter to prevent an affair i think?) and social ones (the daughter pointing out how rude their family is). i mention all these examples by name because theyre easy enough to mention. theyre moments, not stories. and they contribute to the screwball hijinks of the play. a mess is funny.

SO alls to say that design for living isnt like this at all. to start off, it isnt very funny. definitely not zany like these. the situation isnt side-splitting, it’s sad! the love is well-established which makes the break ups depressing. coward couldve written this play to be like how love triangle comedies are often written. leo walks out and otto arrives and gilda treats him like she treated leo and she has to hide him a la present laughter and oh the hilarity! but that hilarity is never entertained. the audience doesnt know about leo in act one when ernest is there so there’s no comedic tension. and when we do find out, they tell otto as soon as he’s back. it isnt funny when ernst (and the audience) figures it out. it’s dramatic. and that tone continues the whole show. even the ending isnt one last laugh. it’s a gasp moment. “havent you figured it out? ive given in.” it’s a full-on romance. i get the sense coward wrote a dramatic play under the veneer of a comedy because the situation is better received in the ambiguity of comedy. the non conformity being the whole premise of the show rather than a one-off is another irregularity that furthers that