Perhaps we nowhere capture better what the world of the theatre encapsulated for Dane, its bravado, its real courage and its determination to perform than this remarkable anecdote from 1939 Coward’s assertion that it would not now be performed was true in the short term. The theatres did indeed close and it was not until 1942 that the play was first performed and under very different circumstances. The wartime situation meant Coward felt it should reach out into the provinces first rather than opening immediately in London. Thus it was that the play opened in Blackpool in September 1942 and it was only 25 weeks later that the play ran for six weeks in London.
A wonderful ‘I was there’ book.
The Solitary Reader 