Tonight at 8:30

Tonight at 8.30 is a cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward. 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."

Tonight at 8.30 was first produced in 1935 in Manchester and on tour and played in London (1936), New York (1936–1937) and Canada (1938). The plays were performed in various combinations of three at each performance during the original run. The plays chosen for each performance were announced in advance, although a myth evolved that the groupings were random. The plays have enjoyed several major revivals, and several films and television adaptations are based on them. From August to October 2009, the series was presented in repertory by the Shaw Festival.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Coward wrote a succession of popular hits, ranging from the operetta Bitter Sweet (1929) and the extravaganza Cavalcade (1931), requiring a large cast, gargantuan sets and a complex hydraulic stage, to the intimate comedies Private Lives (1930), in which Coward starred alongside Gertrude Lawrence, and Design for Living (1932). Coward said that after Private Lives, he felt that the public enjoyed seeing him and Lawrence together on stage, and so he wrote them as "acting, singing, and dancing vehicles for Gertrude Lawrence and myself".

Four of the plays in the cycle "break into spontaneous song... in the most unexpected places". The songs from Tonight at 8.30 are as follows:

Six of the plays (We Were Dancing, The Astonished Heart, Red Peppers, Hands Across the Sea, Fumed Oak and Shadow Play) were first presented at the Opera House, Manchester, beginning on 15 October 1935. A seventh play, Family Album, was added on the subsequent nine-week provincial tour. The final three were added for the London run: Ways and Means, Still Life (later expanded into the film Brief Encounter) and Star Chamber, which was performed only once.

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