Part of the Noel Coward collection on DVD, Vortex was originally a play, and a silent film from 1928, but the performance in this collection is from 1969 British TV. Margaret Leighton, Patrick Barr, and Richard Warwick star as the Lancaster family, attending a party. They must each face their demons as they force each other to come to terms and stop pretending to themselves and each other. This could easily be Coward's own story, or pretty much any of us. There are some cute, clever lines near the beginning, before things get brutal, but as it goes on, it gets more serious and dramatic. Alan Melville (Pawnie), Felicity Gibson (Bunty), and Jennifer Daniel (Helen) are the innocent bystanders here for the first act, but towards the end, mother and son must face their realities together without interference. Directed by Philip Dudley, who had directed British TV for twenty years. Good way to kill an hour, but hang on, its going to be a bumpy night.
7 Reviews
classy Coward, without the puns
didi-513 July 2008
'The Vortex' was an early Coward play, dark in tone, and disturbing in its depiction of families being torn apart, drug abuse, and mother love. Short in length - 70 minutes - this adaptation sparkles with menace and benefits greatly from fine performances from Margaret Leighton as the mother, young at heart but not in body, and Richard Warwick as Nicky, the dissolute, confused son, jealous, shallow, and uncaring - but nonetheless displaying a heart set to crack.
Coward's lines are spot on, barbed and perfectly aimed at his targets in high society. The play is heightened in tone and emotion, but not necessarily so, and as an early colour TV production, it still looks modern and relevant. Well worth watching.
Coward's lines are spot on, barbed and perfectly aimed at his targets in high society. The play is heightened in tone and emotion, but not necessarily so, and as an early colour TV production, it still looks modern and relevant. Well worth watching.
Very Good Eddy
writers_reign22 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
They didn't call him 'The Master' for nothing, and in this TV version of his breakthrough play from 1934, it's easy to see why. 1999 marked Coward's 60th birthday so one has to assume that the BBC marked the occasion by televising several of his plays - on the same DVD I found in a junk shop and that may well have been part of a boxed set - which would explain the absence of notes - is another early triumph, Hay Fever, so Private Lives has to be kicking around somewhere as they would never omit that, though I can't see them running to the musicals and revues, so no Bitter Sweet or This Year of Grace, I fear. It's interesting to see Alan Melville, who gets to deliver most of the brittle Cowardisms, and Margaret Leighton is right on the money as the Gertrude figure in Coward's take on Hamlet. He wrote the part of Nicky Lancaster for himself, and by all accounts played it to perfection so it would be cruel to name the actor who has to follow him - unless, of course, it was Coward's original understudy, John Gielgud, and this isn't.
The Vortex
Prismark1029 December 2023
The Vortex was Noel Coward's first commercial hit for the theatre. It also went head on with censorship issues of the day.
The plays deals with adultery, drug taking and latent homosexuality.
Margaret Leighton looking like Fanny Craddock is the ageing socialite Florence Lancaster. Totally deluded that men half her age lust after he when they are using her to social climb into high society. Her latest conquest is Tom Veryan who is now showing signs of getting bored with her.
Her friend Helen tells Florence thar she should act her age and be with her husband. Florence dismissing her that her husband is old and she is not, even though she is just an older woman heavily made up.
The catalyst is her musician son Nicky who returns after a year in Paris. He is engaged to Bunty and both have left a bohemian lifestyle in Paris. Tom has become a drug addict.
Florence has thrown a party for them and Tom is also invited as one of the guests. Only to Nicky's disgust, Bunty and Tom turn out to be old friends. Nicky suspects they were once lovers.
Alone Tom tells Bunty that Nicky is not her type. Alluding to him being effeminate for her.
The party ends in disarray when Florence catches Tom kissing Bunty. By this time Nicky has ended his engagement with Bunty.
Although made in 1969 in colour. I expected this to be a creaky Noel Coward piece. It felt refreshing modern. The template of this drama could easily work in an updated setting.
Only the ending looked low key. Both mother and son hope to change and do better. Both are addicts and you cannot give up addiction that easily.
The plays deals with adultery, drug taking and latent homosexuality.
Margaret Leighton looking like Fanny Craddock is the ageing socialite Florence Lancaster. Totally deluded that men half her age lust after he when they are using her to social climb into high society. Her latest conquest is Tom Veryan who is now showing signs of getting bored with her.
Her friend Helen tells Florence thar she should act her age and be with her husband. Florence dismissing her that her husband is old and she is not, even though she is just an older woman heavily made up.
The catalyst is her musician son Nicky who returns after a year in Paris. He is engaged to Bunty and both have left a bohemian lifestyle in Paris. Tom has become a drug addict.
Florence has thrown a party for them and Tom is also invited as one of the guests. Only to Nicky's disgust, Bunty and Tom turn out to be old friends. Nicky suspects they were once lovers.
Alone Tom tells Bunty that Nicky is not her type. Alluding to him being effeminate for her.
The party ends in disarray when Florence catches Tom kissing Bunty. By this time Nicky has ended his engagement with Bunty.
Although made in 1969 in colour. I expected this to be a creaky Noel Coward piece. It felt refreshing modern. The template of this drama could easily work in an updated setting.
Only the ending looked low key. Both mother and son hope to change and do better. Both are addicts and you cannot give up addiction that easily.
Suddenly last summer, Noel Coward turned into Tennessee Williams.
mark.waltz18 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The performances of Margaret Leighton and Richard Warwick are what I imagine the mother and son from Williams' play about sea turtles and cannibalism to have been like prior to that fateful crawl up a hill to his destruction. They are obviously not those characters, but Leighton (looking quite lovely and not like the old hag her son describes her to be to her face in a final confrontation) is obviously quite a grasping woman, grasping on to her youth, her husband, her son, her lovers, her illusions about who she still is when those have obviously passed her by. Her son arrives home with a fiance, and obviously Leighton is not amused. Another woman to take away her son's attention. It turns out that the fiance is also an old friend of Leighton's current lover, and that results in several explosions.
A fascinating 70 minute play, this says in the last 20 minutes what many playwrights have wrote hours about. It is Noel Coward at his cruelest, often ready but definitely mean-spirited as he goes out of his way to destroy This woman's illusions in a short period of time. It may only be 70 minutes for the viewer, but it's still only a short evening to her, and in that one night, her whole image is shattered. It is very well stage and extremely well acted, but rather depressing as it shows a woman who only has artificial desires to make her feel loved, as if aging naturally would destroy all of that. For any young man watching this and seeing how the mother is disrespected, no matter how honest the rent at the end is, it's certainly tough and requires a notice in the program indicating "Do not try the ending at home." Yet, it's one of those dramas that manages to get under the skin of the viewer, and I also don't recommend looking in the mirror of one's soul after it's over either.
A fascinating 70 minute play, this says in the last 20 minutes what many playwrights have wrote hours about. It is Noel Coward at his cruelest, often ready but definitely mean-spirited as he goes out of his way to destroy This woman's illusions in a short period of time. It may only be 70 minutes for the viewer, but it's still only a short evening to her, and in that one night, her whole image is shattered. It is very well stage and extremely well acted, but rather depressing as it shows a woman who only has artificial desires to make her feel loved, as if aging naturally would destroy all of that. For any young man watching this and seeing how the mother is disrespected, no matter how honest the rent at the end is, it's certainly tough and requires a notice in the program indicating "Do not try the ending at home." Yet, it's one of those dramas that manages to get under the skin of the viewer, and I also don't recommend looking in the mirror of one's soul after it's over either.
Noel Coward at his most merciless and eloquent - "it's never too early for a cocktail".
clanciai25 January 2021
In every performance that I have seen Margaret Leighton in, she has appeared like slightly tipsy, and here she is so more than ever, as if that could help her in overacting, which is something that this role demands. There is nothing wrong with her performance, as usual it is absolutely flawless, but there was always something about her that gave me an uneasy feeling - I would like to see her as Miss Havisham, though, although I know there never could be any better Havisham than Martita Hunt. All the players are excellent here, and the drama is as tense as Noel Coward ever could have wished it to be, and everyone is convincing enough as well, but it is just a trifle. In spite of the tragedy hinted at, the main character of this amassment of settlements is that of a comedy, and when Margaret Leighton gets hysterical of self pity crying her heart out in bed and drowning in sobs it'a difficult to take her seriously, which even her best friend realises and leaves the bedroom out of mercy. It might have been a shocking play in the 20s, but today it seems very antiquated and at best as something on the level with Anton Tchekhov. The language though is brilliant all the way, and the main pleasure here is to follow these furious outbursts of honesty and eloquence. Everyone contributes to the party, and Margaret Leighton only finally appears as the only real sad fool of them all. Noel Coward never answers the question (of her best friend) whether she will ever realise her own delusions.
It's all dashed awkward.
Sleepin_Dragon1 January 2024
Florence Lancaster is delighted to welcome her son Nicky home after a long absence away, she is less happy to meet his new fiancée Bunty. Florence's young lover Tom had previously been acquainted with Bunty, the pair have a degree of chemistry.
Transmitted as an episode of The BBC's Wednesday Play, this truly is Noel Coward at his best. It's a wonderfully entertaining story of love, spite and jealousy. Fairly short at just over an hour long, it is well worth seeing.
Florence is a fascinating character, she's lovesick, and desperately fearful of ageing. Margaret Leighton truly brings the character to life.
Nobody did costume dramas like The BBC back in the day, and it looks and feels wonderful, they really do bring the era back to life.
The acting is so wonderfully over the top, it's played in a very theatrical style, very much as you'd see at The Theatre, Margaret Leighton is wonderfully over the top, but her bold performance works a treat, Richard Warwick is excellent as Nicky, far more subtle.
8/10.
Transmitted as an episode of The BBC's Wednesday Play, this truly is Noel Coward at his best. It's a wonderfully entertaining story of love, spite and jealousy. Fairly short at just over an hour long, it is well worth seeing.
Florence is a fascinating character, she's lovesick, and desperately fearful of ageing. Margaret Leighton truly brings the character to life.
Nobody did costume dramas like The BBC back in the day, and it looks and feels wonderful, they really do bring the era back to life.
The acting is so wonderfully over the top, it's played in a very theatrical style, very much as you'd see at The Theatre, Margaret Leighton is wonderfully over the top, but her bold performance works a treat, Richard Warwick is excellent as Nicky, far more subtle.
8/10.
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