Design for Living
By Noël Coward
Directed by Will Asmus

February 14, 15, 21 & 22
Performances will be held at The Artifactory (120 N. Dubuque St., Iowa City)

Synopsis:

“The actual facts are so simple. I love you. You love me. You love Otto. I love Otto. Otto loves you. Otto loves me. There now! Start to unravel from there.”

Design for Living is a wickedly witty dark romantic comedy by Noël Coward. Initially banned in the UK, this provocative play portrays three amoral, glib, and stylish characters and their hopelessly inescapable, if also unconventional, emotional entanglement.

From 1930s bohemian Paris to the dizzying heights of Manhattan society, a tempestuous love triangle unravels between vivacious interior designer Gilda, playwright Leo, and artist Otto—three people unashamedly and passionately in love with each other. They are trapped in what Coward called “a three-sided erotic hodge-podge.”

With Coward’s trademark piquant style, this lively, funny but also atypical play looks at dazzling, egotistical creatures and their self-destructive dependence on each other. Exploring themes of Polyamory, celebrity, success, and self-obsession, Design for Living is a stylish and scandalous comedy.