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.