Coward No l Coward 
Semi-Monde 

The first single edition of No l Coward’s most controversial play."Onlyin Semi-Monde does Coward find a successful metaphor for the sexualcomplications that lie behind his posturing. Semi-Monde is easily themost visually daring of his comedies, and the most intellectuallystartling … made up of sexually mischievous tableauxvivants and gets much nearer the homosexual knuckle than Coward’spublic image allowed." — (John Lahr, London Review of Books)Writtenin 1926 and originally entitled Ritz Bar, Semi-Monde was considered toodaring for its time: "its production in London or New York seemedunlikely as some of the characters, owing to lightly suggestedabnormalities, would certainly be deleted by the censor" (No l Coward, Present Indicative). The play finally received its public premiere onlyafter Coward’s death, at the Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, in September1977.