Still Life (play) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Coward himself later said of the play, "Still Life was the most mature play of the whole series.... It is well written, economical and well constructed: the characters, I think, are true, and I can say now, reading it with detachment after so many years, that I am proud to have written it." John Lahr, in his book on Coward's plays, disagreed: "when he wrote himself into the role of an ardent heterosexual lover... the characterisation is wooden. The master of the comic throw-away becomes too loquacious when he gets serious, and his fine words ring false." At the first production, critical opinion agreed with Coward. The Times called it "a serious and sympathetic study of humdrum people suddenly trapped by love" and strongly praised Coward both for the play and his performance.