"[6] Some have detected a touch of Max Miller in the character, but according to Day it is probably more based on Leslie Henson, a comedian whom Coward did not admire.
[6] Day speculates that one reason why Coward withdrew the piece was that his experience as president of the Actors' Orphanage made him uneasy about satirising those who gave their services to such charities, whatever their personal eccentricities.
First, Mr Farmer, Secretary of the Fund, methodical and harassed, followed by Hester More, a dizzy young actress; Johnny Bolton, "a star comedian of middle age but perennial youthfulness"; Violet Vibart, an elderly actress of great distinction; Julian Breed, a popular juvenile lead; Maurice Searle, a character actor who has grown his hair to shoulder length for an historical role and feels self-conscious about it; the majestic Dame Rose Maitland; the preoccupied Elise Brodie; and finally, and very late, Xenia James, chairman of the committee, with her dog, Atherton.
She opens the meeting and Farmer gives details of the Garrick Haven, established in 1902 to provide a home for destitute actresses.
A press photographer arrives and the committee poses for a group shot while Farmer continues to attempt to get his estimates understood and approved.
[10] The sheer expense involved in mounting what are effectively ten different productions has usually deterred revivals of the entire Tonight at 8.30 cycle.
However, the Antaeus Classical Theater Ensemble in Los Angeles revived all ten plays in October 2007,[5][11] and the Shaw Festival did so in 2009.
[13] In 1991, BBC television mounted productions of the Tonight at 8.30 plays with Joan Collins taking the Lawrence roles, but Star Chamber was omitted.
The book was illustrated by Anna Zinkeisen, who contributed a drawing of Xenia James (Lawrence's role) to accompany Star Chamber.
In 2018, as part of an almost complete cycle of the Tonight at 8.30 plays (omitting Fumed Oak) Star Chamber was revived in London at the Jermyn Street Theatre, with a slightly modified text, directed by Tom Littler.