If you go along to the Pump House Theatre Company’s production of The Vortex looking forward to the usual Noel Coward frippery and flamboyance, you may be in for quite a surprise.

The play caused a sensation in 1920s London on its release due to its salacious content. There is still the famed Coward wit to be enjoyed but behind the gloss and glamour of the 20s’ social elite there’s a darker story to tell.

The plot follows the disintegrating lives of Nicky Lancaster and his socialite mother Florence as they struggle with addictions to drugs and sex.

Nicky is a lost young man who returns home from his musical studies in Paris with his fiancée and cocaine habit in tow. His mother on the other hand is going through several lovers half her age, but matters come to a head when Florence’s latest lover casts his eyes on Nicky’s wife to be.

The Vortex is a bold play that remains as relevant now as it was almost 100 years ago.

  • The Pump House Theatre, Local Board Road, Lower Watford High Street, from Monday, November 24 to Saturday, November 29, various times. Details: 0844 8700 887, pumphousetheatrecompany.com