Editing Design for Living (section)

{{Short description|1932 comedy play written by Noël Coward}}
{{Italic title}}
{{About|the play|the film|Design for Living (film)|the 1999 James Reyne album|Design for Living (album)}}
{{For|the song by the Manic Street Preachers|A Design for Life}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
[[File:Design for living.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Lunt, Coward and Fontanne in ''Design for Living'']]

'''''Design for Living''''' is a comedy play written by [[Noël Coward]] in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star [[Lynn Fontanne]], [[Alfred Lunt]] and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué subject matter was thought unacceptable to the [[Lord Chamberlain's Office|official censor]] in London. It was not until 1939 that a London production was presented.

''Design for Living'' was a success on Broadway in 1933, but it has been revived less often than Coward's other major comedies. Coward said, "it was liked and disliked, and hated and admired, but never, I think, sufficiently loved by any but its three leading actors."<ref>Gale, p. 185</ref> The play was [[Design for Living (film)|adapted into a film]] in 1933, directed by [[Ernst Lubitsch]], with a screenplay by [[Ben Hecht]], and starring [[Fredric March]], [[Gary Cooper]], and [[Miriam Hopkins]]. The play was first seen in London in 1939 and has enjoyed a number of stage revivals.