The Astonished Heart

One of the "Tonight at 8:30" series produced in London and New York. In psychiatrist Christian Faber's drawing room sits his weeping wife and his sad assistants, waiting for the siren Leonora. In four flashbacks the story emerges: Leonora, a girlhood chum, visited Christian's wife and was introduced to him. She set out to capture her friend's husband but was captured herself. She threw him over because of his jealousy. He jumped out of the window. Leonora has come because Christian calls for her on his death bed. She returns slowly from his room to announce he has died and that his last words were tender ones to his wife, for whom he mistook Leonora.

This title is part of Tonight at 8.30, a cycle of ten one-act plays by Coward consisting of: We Were Dancing, Red Peppers, Hands Across the Sea, Fumed Oak, Shadow Play, Ways and Means, Still Life, Family Album and Star Chamber.