Still Life (play) 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." "Still Life" was first produced in London (1936) and later presented in New York (1936–1937) and Canada (1938). It has enjoyed several major revivals and in 1945 was adapted for film under the title "Brief Encounter". Like all the other plays in the cycle, it originally starred Gertrude Lawrence and Coward himself. Six of the plays in "" were
Post Mortem (Coward play) the play "a fine effort, a really fine effort... As argument it is first rate. As imagination magnificent … and gave me a thrill to read it." The "Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama" notes that "The British theater had abundant room for the comic Coward, but none for the angry, bitter Coward of "Post Mortem"", and that Coward had two playwriting personas: one "crowd-pleasing (and) comic", the other "darker (and) serious". The Encyclopedia does not record much appreciation, if any, even years later, for this play written by Coward's dark side. However, it bestows some backhanded praise by admitting that