One does not usually think of the late Sir Noel Coward, that ubiquitous eminence of the British theatre for five decades, as being particularly a “political” dramatist. More often than not, public recollection of this playwright tends to recall his international celebrity, his status as world traveller and bon vivant. Yet, an examination of the dramatist’s total canon of work reveals him as an author who frequently questioned, and often set himself against, the prevailing social and political tides of his times. . . .