Auditions: for "Design For Living" by Noël Coward

The plot of Design for Living can be summed up in Leo’s line:

“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.”

Coward’s sparkling, irreverent and radical drama was written in 1932. Banned in the UK for its daring depiction of a ménage a trois it was produced on Broadway to immense acclaim. Written for the glamorous Broadway partnership of the Lunts (Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt) with Coward himself playing Leo, it caused a sensation.

Less often produced than the better known Private Lives or Hay Fever, the play proclaims Coward’s playful and daring genius while the themes it touches on (personal freedom, sexual identity, the costs of a hedonistic lifestyle outside of societies norms) remain as relevant now in the age of internet relationships as ever.

Witty and erudite, Coward’s dialogue drips with humour and irony but as ever contains huge darker truths about the human condition.

Character Profiles:

The character descriptions in italics are Coward’s own physical descriptions and do not

necessarily have to be followed. So do not be put off if you don’t fit these narrow descriptions. The playing ages of Gilda/Otto/Leo are however integral to the story.

Main Roles: (please note very large amount of dialogue)

• Gilda - “a good looking woman of about 30” (playing age 20-39 yrs) A struggling interior designer. In a relationship with Otto and Leo. Self reflective and critical of herself and her situation - a deep and complex individual.
• Otto - “tall and good looking” (playing age 20-39 yrs) A struggling artist. In a relationship with Gilda and Leo. Later finding much success in his career he becomes self assured and dogged in his determination to regain Gilda.
• Leo - “thin and nervous” (playing age 20-39 yrs) A writer gaining some theatrical success on both sides of the Atlantic , he is fiercely intelligent and ambitious. A thinly veiled facsimile of Coward himself who originated the role. (we do not need to stick to this interpretation so don’t worry if you do not look or sound like Coward!)
• Ernest - “any age between forty and fifty, rather precise in manner” (Playing age 40-60 yrs) An art dealer. Conservative in outlook, Ernest is the kind moral centre of the play, a good friend to Gilda, Otto and Leo but generally appalled by their behaviour.

Good Cameo Roles (5 to 10 pages - correspondingly your rehearsal schedule will be lighter)

• Miss Hodge - “Dusty and untidy” (Playing age 40- 65 yrs) The cook and housekeeper. Scandalised by the goings on! Although less educated she is very astute and much experienced in life.
• Grace Torrence - “a typical Europeanised New York matron” (Playing age 40-60 yrs) A wealthy New York matron and friend to Gilda. Typical of a certain wealthy older women of the period her life revolves around social engagements but she is sincere.
• Henry Carver - “ The Carvers are a comparatively young married couple, wealthy and well dressed” (Playing age 20- 45 yrs) Friends of Gilda’s in New York. Henry is very traditional and therefore greatly disapproves of Otto and Leo.
• Helen Carver - “ The Carvers are a comparatively young married couple, wealthy and well dressed” (Playing age 20- 45 yrs) Friends of Gilda’s in New York. Completely bemused by Otto & Leo she struggles to understand what’s before her.

Other Roles:

• Mr. Birbeck - A reporter from the Evening Standard (Playing age 25- 45 yrs)
• Matthew - Ernest’s valet in New York (Playing age 30 - 55 yrs)

(Please note that for the main 3 roles of Otto/Leo/Gilda rehearsals will commence in early June (dates to best suit cast availabilities). In addition from July onwards Sunday PM rehearsals will be required 1500 - 1700 as well as the usual Tuesday and Thursday evening rehearsals). 

Auditions: Wednesday 13th May & Sunday 17th May 2026 @ 7:45pm

Show dates: Tuesday 8th - Saturday 12th September 2026 @ 7:45pm plus Saturday 2:30pm matinee.