Everyman Theatre Blog

Noel Coward and Art Deco 
Made for Each Other
by: Naomi Greenberg-Slovin

Private Lives is a comedy that entertains from beginning to end But it’s also a play in which the set and costume designs are as crucial to the mood and effectiveness of the production as the antics of the actors. And Everyman’s set designer, Daniel Ettinger and costume designer, David Burdick, have created a feast for the eye.

Each scene abounds in the glamour and opulence of a very special time in the history of design; it was the heyday of Art Deco (1920’s-1940). The name originated with the 1925 Paris "Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels et Modernes.

It was a celebration of the “Machine Age.” Technology and mass production joined forces with the decorative arts and transformed everything from fashion to furniture to architecture- and more. But for all its modernity, it was also based on classical forms of art from the Native American, ancient Egyptian and the Aztec.

Art Deco’s clean, sharp lines, geometric symmetry and intense use of color have left a unique footprint that will endure for all time.

Noel Coward reveled in its sophistication. And if we can compare an art form to the personality of a man, Art Deco and Noel Coward complemented each other like a set of matched pearls.

As one art historian described it,  Art Deco was identified with modern [wealthy] society in which

tastes and styles were becoming international, shared as much by the F. Scott Fitzgeralds  of the Roaring Twenties as by Indian maharajahs and the gentry of Old Europe.

These pictures will give you an idea of the way in which elegant Art Deco designs were used.

 
Fashion   

Carpet and Furniture  

Jewelry