• Barnaby Thompson Invites Noel Coward to Dinner

  • Jun 9 2023
  • Length: 55 mins
  • Podcast

Barnaby Thompson Invites Noel Coward to Dinner

  • Summary

  • In this episode, British film producer and director Barnaby Thompson (who produced both Wayne’s World and Spice World, among 30+ other films) brings “the quintessential Englishman” and one of the twentieth century’s most famous wits, Sir Noël Coward, to a breezy (and piquant, we hope) imaginary dinner in Jamaica, where Coward spent a large portion of his later life. Cho cho and snapper escovitch are on the menu, but so are baked beans and bangers and mash (although we’ll spare you the unsuccessful cold soup Coward apparently made for the Queen Mother on one of her visits to Blue Harbour, Coward’s Jamaican residence). Barnaby Thompson’s latest film is Mad About the Boy – The Noël Coward Story, which is currently in cinemas in the UK and Ireland. The documentary “digs into the contradictions underpinning the life and work of one of the most prolific and versatile talents of the 20th century,” according to The Guardian, and is “a fascinating portrait of the man, and of an era – a time in which a wildly successful entertainer had to be wary of wearing a polo neck sweater in public, for fear of inadvertently outing himself.” Fix yourself a stiff gin martini (“Anyone can write books, but it takes an artist to make a dry martini that’s dry enough” says one of Coward’s characters), don your crispest summer suit or slip into a Molyneux gown, and join us as we delve into the exterior and interior worlds of the generation-defining playwright, actor, songwriter, and entertainer.


    Show Notes:


    Barnaby Thompson's IMBD


    Watch Mad About the Boy (or, even better, in select theatres now!)


    Listen to our Dinner with Noel Coward playlist!


    Monica AinleyDLV on Instagram


    Emma Knight on Instagram


    The Guardian’s review of the doc


    BBC Audio’s The Noël Coward Collection on Audible


    “Tour de Gall,” A.A. Gill on L’Ami Louis


    Molyneux gowns, exhibit A


    Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Barnaby Thompson Invites Noel Coward to Dinner

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.