Simon Callow, Jane Asher

World famous author Sir Hugo Latymer is growing old, rude and haughty. In the private suite of a lakeside hotel where he lives, he is attended to by his long-suffering wife and former secretary, Hilde, and Felix, a handsome young waiter. Here he nervously awaits the arrival of an old flame, actress Carlotta Gray, with whom he enjoyed a two-year love affair more than forty years ago. What can she possibly want now? Revenge for his uncharitable characterisation of her in his recent autobiography? Money, to compensate for a second-rate acting career in the States? But it turns out Carlotta is writing her own memoir, and wants something much more significant than cash…

Bittersweet, hugely entertaining and full of sharp wit and repartee, A Song at Twilight is about harbouring secrets and regretting missed opportunities. Noël Coward himself made his farewell stage appearance playing the semi-autobiographical role of Sir Hugo in the West End production of the play in 1966.