Nude with Violin

Nude with Violin is a play in three acts by Noël Coward. A light comedy of manners, the play is Coward's satire on "Modern Art", criticism, artistic pretension and the value placed on art.

Its original London production, opening in 1956, was successful, running for more than a year. However, it failed to match the popularity of his pre-war hits and has rarely been professionally revived.

Coward had not written a commercial theatrical success since his 1945 revue Sigh No More. After World War II, despite his hard work for his country during the war, Coward "was unpopular as a tax exile, and was berated by the British press. ... He was seen as a figure from the past". His 1955 Las Vegas night club act was a hit, leading to popular American TV appearances, including a successful 1956 TV adaptation of Blithe Spirit. Nude With Violin began a series of well-written and successful, but critically shunned, new plays in the late 1950s. Coward regained his popularity by the mid-1960s.

After a tour beginning at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin on 24 September 1956, the play opened on 8 November 1956 at the Globe Theatre in London's West End, starring John Gielgud, co-directed by Gielgud and Coward. It ran until 1 February 1958. During the run, Michael Wilding and later Robert Helpmann took over the lead role of Sebastien.

The production opened at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway in November 1957, starring the author, with Morris Carnovsky, Joyce Carey and Luba Malina, and playing for 86 performances. The production won the 1958 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design. It then had a US national tour. Robert Helpmann led the cast in a tour of Australia after the play closed in London in 1958, and also in a televised version broadcast in the UK in 1959. A different television version aired in 1964 in Melbourne, Australia, starring Terry Norris.

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