Philip Hoare, in his biography of Coward described Semi-Monde as his “most daring play to date. In a chic Parisian hotel, a series of sexual
pairings take place through rendezvous, arguments, infidelities and
reconciliations: sexual deviance is undisguised…set in the bisexual
1920s, the play could easily be populated by characters of Coward’s
society”.
Point Valaine is “the
drama of a lurid episode of lust in the semi-tropics.. unmistakably the
work of a master of the stage” (New York Times); South Sea Bubble which
concerns “the Governor’s lady in the Isle of Samolo who plays with
native fire, nearly gets her wings singed, bashes her native admirer
with a bottle and at one of those Coward next-morning-at breakfast
scenes slips her way out of the scrape with feline grace.” (Manchester
Guardian) whilst Nude With Violin is a witty comedy about art fraud.
