This collection of eight one-act plays was written by Coward for himself and Gertrude Lawrence as an ambitious attempt to revive the one-act play form. First performed in 1935, the plays perfectly showcase his trademark panache for sparkling, sophisticated, witty dialogue. The short form also exhibits Coward’s versatility with themes that range from comical farce to dark satire, played out in plots about mistaken identities, unconsummated affairs and love at first sight. These plays are set between the Victorian era and the emerging Modern period of the 1920s and 30s. The plays are: Family Album, Red Peppers, Still Life, Fumed Oak, The Astonished Heart, Hands Across the Sea, Ways and Means, We Were Dancing.