''Suite in Three Keys'' is a trilogy of plays by
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combina ...
. It comprises two short plays – ''
Shadows of the Evening
''Shadows of the Evening'' is a short play in two scenes, which together with ''A Song at Twilight'' and ''Come into the Garden, Maud'' forms a trilogy by Noël Coward known collectively as ''Suite in Three Keys'', all set in the same luxury su ...
'' and ''
Come Into the Garden, Maud
''Maud, and Other Poems'' (1855) was Alfred Tennyson's first published collection after becoming poet laureate in 1850.
Among the "other poems" was "The Charge of the Light Brigade", which had already been published in the ''Examiner'' a ...
'' – designed to be given as a double bill, and a stand-alone full-length play, ''
A Song at Twilight''. They are all set in the same suite in a luxury Swiss hotel and have a single character common to all three: the Italian waiter. The other characters are British, American and German hotel guests or visitors.
The trilogy was first presented in London in 1966, starring Coward,
Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer (; born Lilli Marie Peiser; 24 May 1914 – 27 January 1986) was a German actress and writer. After beginning her career in British films in the 1930s, she would later transition to major Hollywood productions, earning a Golden Glob ...
and
Irene Worth
Irene Worth, CBE (June 23, 1916March 10, 2002) was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the British and American theatre. She pronounced her given name with three syllables: "I-REE-nee".
Worth made her B ...
.
Background and first performances
''Suite in Three Keys'' was planned by Coward as his theatrical swan song: "I would like to act once more before I fold my bedraggled wings."
[Coward, introduction, unnumbered page.] He wrote the three plays in the expectation that
Margaret Leighton
Margaret Leighton, CBE (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English actress, active on stage and television, and in film. Her film appearances included (her first credited debut feature) in Anatole de Grunwald's '' The Winslow Boy'' ...
would be his co-star, but she vacillated for so long about accepting the roles that he cast