Star Chamber is a one-act play by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8.30, a cycle written to be performed in alternating groups of three plays, across three evenings. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if, by careful writing, acting and producing I can do a little towards reinstating it in its rightful pride, I shall have achieved one of my more sentimental ambitions."
Star Chamber concerns a charity committee meeting among various actors around a table. The play was first performed in London on 21 March 1936. It received only one performance in the original run. However, it has been included in some revivals of the cycle.
Background and first production
Six of the plays in the cycle were first presented at the Manchester Opera House beginning in October 1935. A seventh was added on the subsequent provincial tour, and the final three, including Star Chamber, were added during the London run. Coward directed all ten pieces, and each starred Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. Coward said that he wrote them as "acting, singing, and dancing vehicles for Gertrude Lawrence and myself".
The story in Star Chamber draws on Coward's own experiences as president of the Actors' Orphanage, a post he held from 1934 to 1956. Coward makes fun of egocentric actors and the pedantry of committees. In the play, the president's lapdog is "the most sympathetic character" in the piece. The Coward specialist Barry Day observes that Lawrence was playing a caricature of her real self, while Coward's role was "a second-rate comedian who is always 'on' and always ignored since everyone has heard his stories endless times – Archie Rice anticipated by twenty years." Some have detected a touch of Max Miller in the character, but according to Day it is probably more based on Leslie Henson, a comedian whom Coward did not admire. Day speculates that one reason why Coward withdrew the piece was that his experience as president of the Actors' Orphanage made him uneasy about satirising those who gave their services to such charities, whatever their personal eccentricities.
The play's only performance in the original run was on 21 March 1936 at the Phoenix Theatre.
Original cast
Jimmie Horlick, stage manager – Kenneth Carten
J. M. Farmer, secretary of the Garrick Haven Fund – Anthony Pelissier
Hester More, a very vague actress – Moya Nugent
Johnny Bolton, a star comedian, of middle age – Noël Coward
Julian Breed, a leading young actor – Alan Webb
Violet Vibart, an elderly actress of considerable reputation – Betty Hare
Maurice Searle – Edward Underdown
Dame Rose Maitland, an actress – Everley Gregg
Elise Brodie, an actress – Lumen Edwardes
Xenia James, an actress, president of the Garrick Haven Fund – Gertrude Lawrence
Press photographer – Charles Peters
Plot
On the dim, bare stage of a West End theatre the stage manager, Jimmie Horlick, is arranging chairs round a large table in preparation for a meeting of the committee of the Garrick Haven Fund. The committee members gradually appear. First, Mr Farmer, Secretary of the Fund, methodical and harassed, followed by Hester More, a dizzy young actress; Johnny Bolton, "a star comedian of middle age but perennial youthfulness"; Violet Vibart, an elderly actress of great distinction; Julian Breed, a popular juvenile lead; Maurice Searle, a character actor who has grown his hair to shoulder length for an historical role and feels self-conscious about it; the majestic Dame Rose Maitland; the preoccupied Elise Brodie; and finally, and very late, Xenia James, chairman of the committee, with her dog, Atherton.