Post-Mortem: A Play in Eight Scenes

by Noël Coward

Post-Mortem is a one-act play in eight scenes, written in 1930 by Noël Coward. He wrote it after appearing in, and being moved by, an earlier play about World War I, Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff. As soon as he had completed writing it, however, he decided that it was suitable for publication but not for production.

Source: Wikipedia.

Genres: Plays

83 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1931

About the author

Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. Among his achievements, he received an Academy Certificate of Merit at the 1943 Academy Awards for "outstanding production achievement for In Which We Serve."

Known for his wit, flamboyance, and personal style, his plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006.

Reviews

[☄ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love you with all that's best in me – always.

noël coward wrote this play after starring as stanhope in a production of journey's end in 1930, a play which, embarrassingly, made me cry half a dozen times over the course of its meager 80 pages.... so naturally i had to read this one, too! and it, too, made me weep!! incredible! coward was hugely inspired by sherriff's play and it comes through like light through glass in post-mortem. it almost reads like a continuation of the first play, only perhaps one dugout further down the line. it's a much angrier iteration to be sure – me being me, i do prefer the soft lit, wilfred owen-esque "doomed youth" vibe of the former – but it's an amazingly heartrending piece of drama that deserves a high place in the canon of great war literature. i'm only surprised more people haven't read it.

don't you understand, i don't want you to be hurt anymore. stay, ask me anything, i'll be able to answer, i know now, i'll tear the truth out of infinity for you, even if i break my heart in doing it, only stay, don't leave me!

[lucy snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a bitterly angry play. a soldier, dragged away from his body the second before death, takes a tour of those important to him and explores the way their lives have continued after the war, in 1930.

it is interesting to see the gaps he has left in the lives of those around him. his mother mourns, profoundly alone, his fiancee has married someone else but would still drop everything for a kiss with him. his father still spouts the propaganda in his paper that he was publishing during the war and refuses to listen to john's protests.

even his fellow soldiers, all older in 1930, would willingly send their sons to fight in the next war, after the trauma they suffered. interesting.

also interesting was the discussion of war books and their place in society. are they desensitising humanity? commercialising war ? or are they a valuable method of remembering?

thank you david for the recommendation