Design for Living
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noel Coward that premiered in 1932. It concerns a threesome of neurotic, camp but intensely artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo. The play was adapted into a pre-Hays code comedy film in 1933, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, with a screenplay by Ben Hecht, and starring Gary Cooper, Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Edward Everett Horton.
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Play
Originally written for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (as Otto and Gilda respectively), with Noel Coward himself taking the role of Leo, the play is darkly humorous throughout and filled with sparkling trademark Coward quips and dialogue, but it explores deeper themes that can seem controversial even today. Moral justification for infidelity, analysis of the pressures of fame on an unstable mind, and a strongly hinted ménage à trois are among some of the topics alluded to or tackled head-on in the course of Design for Living; the fact that it was a roaring success on its debut is testament to the play's excellent structure and enduring wit.
A 1995 revival of the play featured a then-unknown actress named Rachel Weisz in the role of Gilda, prompting her rise to national recognition and thus effectively kick-starting her career. This production also starred Paul Rhys and Clive Owen. It was directed by Sean Mathias and played at the Donmar Warehouse studio theatre in London, later transferring to the West End with a slightly different cast.
1933 film
Plot
Set in Paris, playwright Tom Chambers and artist George Curtis both fall in love with Gilda, an American woman. She cannot make up her mind which man she loves, so the three decide to live together. At first, the three are friends, but as time goes by, the two men become more competitive.
Gilda decides to end the dispute by marrying her employer, Max Plunkett, but finds the marriage dull and stifling. After Tom and George crash a party at the Plunkett mansion, Gilda returns to the two men, and Max agrees to a divorce.
Cast
- Fredric March as Tom Chambers
- Gary Cooper as George Curtis
- Miriam Hopkins as Gilda Farrell
- Edward Everett Horton as Max Plunkett
- Franklin Pangborn as Mr. Douglas
- Isabel Jewell as Plunkett's Stenographer
- Jane Darwell as Curtis' Housekeeper
- Wyndham Standing as Max's Butler
