The Vortex
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 The Vortex facts

• The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the First World War
• The son's cocaine habit is seen by many critics as a metaphor for homosexuality, then taboo in Britain
• Despite, or because of, its controversial content for the time, the play was Coward's first great commercial success
• The play premiered in November 1924 in London and played in three theatres until June 1925, followed by a British tour and a New York production in 1925–26
• It has enjoyed several revivals and a film adaptation