Эта счастливая порода: Пьеса Ноэла Коуарда о британской семье между войнами.

the film adaptation

This Happy Breed is a play by Noël Coward. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, Present Laughter. The two plays later alternated with Coward's Blithe Spirit. The title, a reference to the English people, is a phrase from John of Gaunt's monologue in Act II, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Richard II. The story of the play concerns the lower middle class Gibbons family between the end of World War I and the outbreak of World War II. It anticipates the non violent ways in which social justice issues might be incorporated into post war national reconstruction, examines the personal trauma caused by the sudden death of sons and daughters and anticipates the forthcoming return of English men from the war. It is also an intimate portrait of the economy and politics of Great Britain in the 1920s and 1930s (such as the General Strike of 1926), as well as showing the advances in technology – the arrival of primitive crystal radio sets and telephones, home gas lights being replaced by electricity and mass broadcast radio. This Happy Breed is one of a very few Coward plays to deal entirely with domestic events outside an upper class or upper middle class setting. A number of scenes are reminiscent of previous Coward works, such as Cavalcade (1931) or the short play Fumed Oak from Tonight at 8.30 (1936).

Coward completed the playscript for This Happy Breed (as well as that for Present Laughter) in 1939, in the months before World War II. The producer Binkie Beaumont originally wanted to stage Present Laughter on its own, but Coward insisted that, given the political situation at the time, it should be played alternately with the more sombre This Happy Breed. The original script called for the abdication speech of King Edward VIII to be heard on the radio by the Gibbons family in Act 3 scene 1, but the Lord Chamberlain (Britain's official play censor until 1968) objected to its inclusion, citing the embarrassment it would cause any member of the royal family who happened to see the play. The final dress rehearsal was held on 31 August 1939. The following day Germany invaded Poland; Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September, and the production was immediately abandoned. Coward departed for Paris to meet Jean Giraudoux, who wanted the playwright to set up a Bureau of Propaganda and serve as a liaison with the Commissariat d'Information. Coward engaged in war work in intelligence and propaganda in Europe and America for the next two years. Winston Churchill advised Coward that he could do more for the war effort by entertaining the troops and the home front than by attempts at intelligence work: "Go and sing to them when the guns are firing – that's your job!" Though disappointed, Coward followed this advice. He toured, acted and sang indefatigably in Europe, Africa, Asia and America. This Happy Breed and Present Laughter were finally staged in September 1942 in Blackpool on Coward's wartime tour of Britain after he returned to acting. The sets and costumes were designed by Gladys Calthrop. Coward later said, "I have always had a reputation for high life, earned no doubt in the twenties with such plays as The Vortex. But, as you see, I was a suburban boy, born and bred in the suburbs of London, which I've always loved and always will." This Happy Breed, like his short play Fumed Oak, is one of his rare stage depictions of suburban life.

The Times, noting that This Happy Breed had opened the night after the London première of Present Laughter, commented, "both plays, though widely separated in mood and kind, are successful, the one attaining to brilliant comedy, the other creating and sustaining an interest in a family of the lower middle class which may fairly be called absorbing Mr Coward keeps firm control of his narrative and in his own part occasionally permits himself to speak for an England which, though tired, is still possessed of an invincible stamina." The Manchester Guardian thought some of the scenes too long, but added "the author's skill is shown in each one, unabated and breaking fresh ground; the play obviously moved and excited the audience, and we must admit, once again, that Mr Coward remains one of the most remarkable men of the theatre of our time." The Daily Express wrote, "Mr Coward's Clapham cavalcade is perfectly acted. It is history dramatised in the back parlour and a most moving portrait of small people living greatly.

A 1944 film adaptation, also called This Happy Breed, was directed by David Lean and starred Robert Newton and Celia Johnson. In 1989 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation of the play, starring John Moffatt, Rosemary Leach, Anna Cropper and Doris Hare. The audio play was released on CD in 2011, part of the Classic Radio Theatre series.