Hands Across the Sea (play)
Encyclopedia
Hands Across the Sea is a short comic play by Noël Coward
, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30
, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if, by careful writing, acting and producing I can do a little towards reinstating it in its rightful pride, I shall have achieved one of my more sentimental ambitions."
The play was first produced in 1935 in Manchester and on tour and played in London (1936), New York (1936–1937) and Canada (1938). It has enjoyed several major revivals and a television adaptation. At its premières in Manchester and London Hands Across the Sea was played on the same evening as Fumed Oak
and Shadow Play
. Like all the other plays in the cycle it originally starred Gertrude Lawrence
and Coward himself.
, including Hands Across the Sea, were first presented at the Opera House, Manchester, beginning on 15 October 1935, but Hands Across the Sea premiered on the third night, 18 October 1935. A seventh play was added on the subsequent provincial tour, and the final three were added for the London run. The first London performance of Hands Across the Sea was on 18 January 1936 at the Phoenix Theatre
.
Coward directed all ten pieces, and each starred Coward and Gertrude Lawrence
. Coward said that he wrote them as "acting, singing, and dancing vehicles for Gertrude Lawrence and myself". The plays were performed in various combinations of three at each performance during the original run. The plays chosen for each performance were announced in advance, although a myth evolved that the groupings were random. Matinées were sometimes billed as Today at 2:30.
The main characters, a British couple, Commander Peter Gilpin and his wife Lady Maureen ("Piggy") Gilpin, were caricatures of Coward's friends Lord Louis ("Dickie") Mountbatten
and his wife Edwina
, who, Coward later said, "used to give cocktail parties and people used to arrive that nobody had ever heard of and sit about and go away again; somebody Dickie had met somewhere, or somebody Edwina had met – and nobody knew who they were. We all talked among ourselves, and it was really a very very good basis for a light comedy." Mountbatten, in mock indignation, called it "a bare-faced parody of our lives, with Gertie Lawrence playing Lady Maureen Gilpin and Noël Coward playing me. Absolutely outrageous...!" In the introduction to his collected plays Coward states:
The Broadway
openings for the three parts took place on 24 November 1936 (including Hands Across the Sea), 27 November 1936 and 30 November 1936 at the National Theatre
, again starring Coward and Lawrence. All of the plays were included except Star Chamber. The London and New York runs were limited only by Coward's boredom at long engagements.
Major productions of parts of the cycle were revived in 1948 and 1967 on Broadway (Hands Across the Sea was included in 1948 but omitted in 1967), 1981 at the Lyric Theatre
in London (Shadow Play, Hands Across the Sea and Red Peppers), starring John Standing
and Estelle Kohler
and at the Chichester Festival in 2006 (Shadow Play, Hands Across the Sea, Red Peppers, Family Album, Fumed Oak and The Astonished Heart). In 1971, the Shaw Festival
revived three of the works (not including Hands Across the Sea), and in 2000, the Williamstown Theatre Festival
revived We Were Dancing, Family Album, Hands Across the Sea (all starring Blythe Danner
), Red Peppers, Shadow Play and Star Chamber. The Antaeus Company in Los Angeles revived all ten plays in October 2007, and the Shaw Festival did so in 2009.
Hands Across the Sea was adapted for television in 1938. In 1991, BBC
television mounted productions of the individual plays with Joan Collins
taking the Lawrence roles. Hands Across the Sea was chosen to open the series. The sheer expense involved in mounting what are effectively ten different productions has usually deterred revivals of the entire Tonight at 8:30 cycle, but the constituent plays can often be seen individually or in sets of three.
The Gilpins receive a phone message that the Rawlingsons will be visiting – a couple who stayed with them while travelling the Far East, and everyone leaves to get ready for their arrival. Mrs Wadhurst had spoken to Lady Maureen earlier in the week, but when Piggie sees the Wadhursts, she mistakes them for the Rawlingsons. They are forced to listen to meaningless conversations about people they do not know. Among the arrivals, departures, telephone calls and free-flowing alcohol, confusions abound. When Mrs Rawlingson telephones, Piggie finally realizes that she doesn't know who the Wadhursts are.
said of the play: "As a piece of production it is, technically, of the utmost brilliance; as an entertainment, in its own kind frothily faultless. Coward's fellow-dramatist Terence Rattigan
considered it "the best short comedy ever written."
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward 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 chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30
Tonight at 8:30
Tonight at 8.30 is a cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if,...
, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if, by careful writing, acting and producing I can do a little towards reinstating it in its rightful pride, I shall have achieved one of my more sentimental ambitions."
The play was first produced in 1935 in Manchester and on tour and played in London (1936), New York (1936–1937) and Canada (1938). It has enjoyed several major revivals and a television adaptation. At its premières in Manchester and London Hands Across the Sea was played on the same evening as Fumed Oak
Fumed Oak
Fumed Oak is a short play in two scenes by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings. Coward billed the work as an "unpleasant comedy in two scenes"...
and Shadow Play
Shadow Play (play)
Shadow Play is a short play by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings...
. Like all the other plays in the cycle it originally starred Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
and Coward himself.
History
Six of the plays in Tonight at 8:30Tonight at 8:30
Tonight at 8.30 is a cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if,...
, including Hands Across the Sea, were first presented at the Opera House, Manchester, beginning on 15 October 1935, but Hands Across the Sea premiered on the third night, 18 October 1935. A seventh play was added on the subsequent provincial tour, and the final three were added for the London run. The first London performance of Hands Across the Sea was on 18 January 1936 at the Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix Theatre (London)
The Phoenix Theatre is a West End theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located on Charing Cross Road . The entrance is in Phoenix Street....
.
Coward directed all ten pieces, and each starred Coward and Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
. Coward said that he wrote them as "acting, singing, and dancing vehicles for Gertrude Lawrence and myself". The plays were performed in various combinations of three at each performance during the original run. The plays chosen for each performance were announced in advance, although a myth evolved that the groupings were random. Matinées were sometimes billed as Today at 2:30.
The main characters, a British couple, Commander Peter Gilpin and his wife Lady Maureen ("Piggy") Gilpin, were caricatures of Coward's friends Lord Louis ("Dickie") Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and his wife Edwina
Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma,, GBE, DCVO, CI, DStJ was an English heiress, socialite, relief-worker, wife of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and last Vicereine of India.- Lineage and wealth :Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma...
, who, Coward later said, "used to give cocktail parties and people used to arrive that nobody had ever heard of and sit about and go away again; somebody Dickie had met somewhere, or somebody Edwina had met – and nobody knew who they were. We all talked among ourselves, and it was really a very very good basis for a light comedy." Mountbatten, in mock indignation, called it "a bare-faced parody of our lives, with Gertie Lawrence playing Lady Maureen Gilpin and Noël Coward playing me. Absolutely outrageous...!" In the introduction to his collected plays Coward states:
- It is a gay, unpretentious little play, and it was acted by Gertie with incomparable brilliance. I cannot think of it without remembering the infinite variety of her inflections; her absurd scatterbrained conversations on the telephone; her frantic desire to be hospitable and charming and her expression of blank dismay when she suddenly realized that her visitors were not who she thought they were at all.
The Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
openings for the three parts took place on 24 November 1936 (including Hands Across the Sea), 27 November 1936 and 30 November 1936 at the National Theatre
Nederlander Theatre
David T. Nederlander Theatre is a 1,232-seat Broadway theatre located at 208 West 41st Street, in New York City . One of the Nederlander Organization's nine Broadway theatres, the legacy of the theatre began with David Tobias Nederlander, for whom the theatre is named.Built by Walter C...
, again starring Coward and Lawrence. All of the plays were included except Star Chamber. The London and New York runs were limited only by Coward's boredom at long engagements.
Major productions of parts of the cycle were revived in 1948 and 1967 on Broadway (Hands Across the Sea was included in 1948 but omitted in 1967), 1981 at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
in London (Shadow Play, Hands Across the Sea and Red Peppers), starring John Standing
John Standing
Sir John Ronald Leon Standing, 4th Baronet is an English actor.-Early life:Standing was born John Ronald Leon in London, the son of Kay Hammond , an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, a stockbroker...
and Estelle Kohler
Estelle Kohler
Estelle Kohler is a British theatre and television actress. Born in South Africa, Kohler made a name for herself as a Shakespearean actor in England...
and at the Chichester Festival in 2006 (Shadow Play, Hands Across the Sea, Red Peppers, Family Album, Fumed Oak and The Astonished Heart). In 1971, the Shaw Festival
Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival is a major Canadian theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the second largest repertory theatre company in North America...
revived three of the works (not including Hands Across the Sea), and in 2000, the Williamstown Theatre Festival
Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a regional summer stock theatre on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, founded in 1954 by Williams College news director, Ralph Renzi, and drama program chairman, David C. Bryant. The theatre was conceived as a way to use the Adams...
revived We Were Dancing, Family Album, Hands Across the Sea (all starring Blythe Danner
Blythe Danner
Blythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Early life:...
), Red Peppers, Shadow Play and Star Chamber. The Antaeus Company in Los Angeles revived all ten plays in October 2007, and the Shaw Festival did so in 2009.
Hands Across the Sea was adapted for television in 1938. In 1991, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television mounted productions of the individual plays with Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
taking the Lawrence roles. Hands Across the Sea was chosen to open the series. The sheer expense involved in mounting what are effectively ten different productions has usually deterred revivals of the entire Tonight at 8:30 cycle, but the constituent plays can often be seen individually or in sets of three.
Roles and original cast
- Walters – Moya Nugent
- Lady Maureen Gilpin (Piggie) – Gertrude LawrenceGertrude LawrenceGertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
- Commander Peter Gilpin, R.N. – Noël CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward 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 chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
- Lieut.-Commander Alastair Corbett, R.N. – Edward UnderdownEdward UnderdownEdward Underdown was an english theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London.Early theatre credits include: Words and Music, Nymph Errant, Stop Press and Streamline ....
- Mrs Wadhurst – Alison LeggattAlison LeggattAlison Leggatt was an English character actress.-Career:Born as Alison Joy Leggatt in the Kensington district of London, Leggatt spent the early part of her career primarily on the stage. Her first major film credit was as Aunt Sylvia in This Happy Breed , Noel Coward's homage to the British...
(Joyce CareyJoyce CareyJoyce Carey, OBE was a British actress, best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noël Coward. Her stage career lasted from 1916 until 1984, and she was performing on television in her nineties. Though never a star, she was a familiar face both on stage and screen...
in New York) - Mr Wadhurst – Alan WebbAlan Webb (actor)-Biography and Career:Educated at Bramcote School, Scarborough, and RN Colleges Osborne and Dartmouth. He served in the Royal Navy.Webb's early days were spent performing with the Lena Ashwell Players , J. B. Fagan's Oxford Players , The Croydon Repertory Company , and the Old Vic-Sadler's Wells...
- Mr Burnham – Kenneth Carten
- The Hon. Clare Wedderburn – Everly Gregg (Joan Swinstead in New York)
- Major Gosling – Anthony PelissierAnthony PelissierHarry Anthony Compton Pelissier was an English actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Biography:Pelissier was born in Barnet and came from a theatrical family. His parents were the theatre producer H. G. Pelissier and the distinguished actress Fay Compton...
Plot
Two bemused visitors from the colonies take up a casually-made invitation from an upper-class British couple to drop in on them at their Mayfair flat when in England "in the kind of smart house where the telephone never stops and there is a continuous scream representing a conversation which has never begun and will certainly never end." In their enthusiasm for hospitality, the British couple, Commander Peter Gilpin and his wife Lady Maureen ("Piggy") Gilpin, have invited so many people to their cocktail party that they can't entirely remember who they invited.The Gilpins receive a phone message that the Rawlingsons will be visiting – a couple who stayed with them while travelling the Far East, and everyone leaves to get ready for their arrival. Mrs Wadhurst had spoken to Lady Maureen earlier in the week, but when Piggie sees the Wadhursts, she mistakes them for the Rawlingsons. They are forced to listen to meaningless conversations about people they do not know. Among the arrivals, departures, telephone calls and free-flowing alcohol, confusions abound. When Mrs Rawlingson telephones, Piggie finally realizes that she doesn't know who the Wadhursts are.
Reception
The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
said of the play: "As a piece of production it is, technically, of the utmost brilliance; as an entertainment, in its own kind frothily faultless. Coward's fellow-dramatist Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
considered it "the best short comedy ever written."