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Masquerade

The Lives of Noël Coward

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Masquerade

By: Oliver Soden
Narrated by: Oliver Soden
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About this listen

 'This is the biography - truthful, sympathetic and thorough - that Coward deserves'
DAILY TELEGRAPH

The voice, the dressing-gown, the cigarette in its holder, remain unmistakable. There is rarely a week when one of Private Lives, Hay Fever, and Blithe Spirit is not in production somewhere in the world. Phrases from Noël Coward's songs - "Mad About The Boy", "Mad Dogs and Englishman" - are forever lodged in the public consciousness. He was at one point the most highly paid author in the world. Yet some of his most striking and daring writing remains unfamiliar. As T.S. Eliot said, in 1954, "there are things you can learn from Noël Coward that you won't learn from Shakespeare".

Coward wrote some fifty plays and nine musicals, as well as revues, screenplays, short stories, poetry, and a novel. He was both composer and lyricist for approximately 675 songs. Louis Mountbatten's famous tribute argued that, while there were greater comedians, novelists, composers, painters and so on, only "the master" had combined fourteen talents in one. So central was he to his age's theatre that any account of his career is also a history of the British stage. And so daring was Coward's unorthdoxy in his closest relationships, obliquely reflected throughout his writing, that it must also be a history of sexual liberation in the twentieth century. In Oliver Soden's sparkling, story-packed new Life, the Master finally gets his due. Art & Literature Authors Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Entertainment Imperialism Interwar Period

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Critic reviews

My handbook was the magnificent Masquerade by Oliver Soden, which superbly explores what was behind the mask (Arty Froushan, who stars as Noel Coward in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025))
What a pleasure it is to read a book into which so much labour, and so much affection, have evidently gone. But the labour is never flaunted and the affection is mingled with the same sophisticated irony that made Coward such a giant of the theatre. This is the biography - truthful, sympathetic and thorough - that Coward deserves (Nikhil Krishnan)
Assiduous, even-handed, readable . . . astute (Dominic Maxwell)
Excellent . . . reveals Coward to be a more complex individual than we had acknowledged (Michael Billington)
A captivating biography (Kate Maltby)
This is a sympathetic and very touching biography. Soden makes the daring decision to write occasional sections in imitation of Coward's style. Not every biographer would be up to this, but Soden pulls it off. The ending is particularly good - first skating around Coward's last days, letting him evaporate like Elvira, then giving us a chorus of biographers, boyfriends and household servants to narrate it in detail. But the whole book is beautifully done, and will last . . . There's every reason to think Coward will last forever - and this excellent biography is just what he deserves (Philip Hensher)
Soden, who has had access to unpublished diaries and letters, comes up with a far more complex Coward than we have seen before... This is a highly illuminating book that makes us reconsider Coward (Michael Billington)
Masquerade is a pleasure to read - not just for Oliver Soden's splendid survey of Coward's life, but also for the rhythm and tempo of his writing as he parries with his mercurial subject. This Coward commands our empathy: more real, more mortal, "more Noël than Coward", as Soden intended... His fallibility renders him more likeable, lovable even. With this enriched arc from conception to denouement, the myth is made man. At last, the character of Noël Coward makes sense. (Sarah Gabriel)
Praise for Michael Tippett: The Biography An exceptional piece of work
Praise for Michael Tippett: The Biography
Generous, game-changing biography
Praise for Michael Tippett: The Biography
That rarest of things: a genuine landmark publication
Praise for Jeoffrey: The Poet's Cat
Simply unforgettable ... one of the most beautiful and haunting books of recent times
Praise for Jeoffrey: The Poet's Cat
Inspired and original
Praise for Jeoffrey: The Poet's Cat
I intend to give a copy to everyone I like
Soden's verve and way of handling the subject completely breathes new life into an absolutely extraordinary story . . . I really recommend it, it's a fascinating look at somebody who is still relevant fifty years after his death (Marina Hyde)
All stars
Most relevant
Not bad, but the structures in little artificial, and perhaps even annoying at points I found

Quite good

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A beautifully written and equally well performed biography about an extraordinary socially-mobile English man. His huge achievements and his failings, vanities and amazing networking skills (no doubt he would abhor the expression) are all here. NC operated at the very highest levels of British (and, often, US) society.

The author is a superb reader - thank you. it is always a treat when an author also chooses to read but Oliver Soden is exemplary.

A rather unusual and moving final chapter.

excellent

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Superb and touching biography of the Master, expertly narrated by the author. This will be the definitive story of Nöel Coward for years to come. I can't imagine anyone adding anything to the narrative that's not already said by Oliver Soden.

'Give man a mask and he will tell you the truth'

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As a playwright, Noel Coward is best known for his most popular stage plays ‘Private Lives’, ‘Hay Fever’ and ‘Blithe Spirit’, though he wrote many works that are largely unfamiliar to the theatre-going public. He also wrote novels, screenplays and serious and comic songs, such as ‘Mad About the Boy’ and ‘Mad Dogs and Englishman’. This biography tells us about the real Noel Coward – his life, relationships and his opinions.

Although many people will only know Coward from his appearance with Michael Caine in the classic heist caper, ‘The Italian Job’, I first came across his writing in the film version of ‘Blithe Spirit’, starring Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford, one of my all-time favourite movies. This book also reminded that he penned ‘Brief Encounter’ (from his short play, Still Life) and appeared in classic British wartime movies, ‘This Happy Breed’ and ‘In Which We Serve’, as well as ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ and ‘Our Man in Havana’.

Oliver Soden has written an entertaining and well-researched book that uncovers the life of this highly talented and influential writer. While the format – written as a series of stage plays – didn’t quite gel with me, the author has created a detailed and enlightening book that stays away from any hint of sentimentality.

An excellent insight into one of Britain’s most gifted playwrights.

Entertaining and well-researched

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Having met Oliver at Hambleton Hall for a Noel Coward evening, I enjoyed the book much more. Very well read.

Quality of content

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