Review: PRESENT LAUGHTER, Theatre Royal Bath
Photo credit: Simon Annand
It is extraordinary to realise that Noel Coward’s Present Laughter was first staged in the West End during World War II in 1942 and has been acclaimed as one of his finest plays ever since. Many famous actors have played Garry Essendine, the semi-autobiographical actor whom Coward created as the protagonist of the play. Albert Finney, Peter O’Toole, Ian McKellen, Simon Callow and Douglas Fairbank Jr have all played the part, most recently Andrew Scott gave the original a gay subplot when he performed it at the Old Vic. It features a self-obsessed, posturing snob surrounded by sycophants and flattering fans but masking loneliness and a need to be loved, stuck in his London flat ahead of a reluctant theatrical tour of South Africa.
Tracy-Ann Oberman has reimagined the play, re-gendering all of the central characters and resetting in a New York warehouse loft apartment in the 1970s with English actress, Geri, holed up in the flat before a tour of Australia. The excellent pre-show front cloth sets the scene and the time beautifully with newspaper cuttings of her arrival in the city in 1966, through to her meeting with Andy Warhol at Studio 54 in 1977, and including a picture with Princess Margaret. It is a clever idea placing the character in a world of sexual liberation and hedonism of the New York scene at the time. We don’t think we really needed the servant character Fred reimagined as Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch or Rosina Maule (Roland in the original) cast as an overwrought, overly animated Velma from Scooby Doo although they are of the period!
The challenge is to make this collection of fawning and obsequious characters who surround Geri as a support network or an adoring fan base interesting and appealing, so we at least have sympathy or interest in their outcomes. Or make them so irritating and infuriating that we side with Geri in her desire for companionship, friendship and love. In the original, Coward had such a distinctive stage presence, a haughty air and a crisp, dry, witty delivery that each cutting remark must have drawn gasps of delight as he dominated the stage. By making the character female and the way Oberman plays it, each reference to her age and looks feels less comedic and more unfair - after all, she looks amazing in her glamorous stage costumes. Occasionally we do get a big raucous belly laugh but generally, there are gentle ripples of amusement. It is described sometimes as a French farce but in the updated version, it feels more like a 1970s Ray Cooney sex comedy. There is a neat device of the parallel openings of Act 1 and Act 3 where we find Geri the morning after 1st David (originally Daphne) and then Johannes (originally Joanna) have casually spent the night in her “spare room”. The lies and cover ups set up amusing scenes as the others react or hide their discovery. The problem is that none of it feels believable or authentic, it is played over the top, overacting or perhaps under rehearsed (several actors fumbled their lines on the night) and the pacing feels slow, so we have too much time to see the absurdity of the situation. As Geri says, “I am always acting” and Len accuses her of “peacocking”, and we can see that clearly.
Adrian Lukis plays the steadfast, separated husband Len (Liz in the original) and James Dreyfus, the rather disapproving grumpy Monty (Monica in the original), with Charlotte Randle as Henrietta (Henry in the original) and Jonathan Tafler as Morris (retaining the gay update from the Scott version). We do get a sense that they are “devoted to each other” but the characters are a little two dimensional, and we are left seeing them as small “satellites around the glorious sun”. There is much to admire in Oberman’s bold reimagining of the classic play and her performance as Geri, but the situation never quite rings true and at times, it feels like we are watching a play within a play and that the director will step forward and say let’s do that scene again.
The hedonistic time of Studio 54 does not shine through, and the loss of Coward’s affected mannerisms and delivery mutes the acerbic wit and put downs that made the original play zing and sparkle. Perhaps as the tour progresses, the chemistry will gel, the pace will pick up and audiences will hear more Present Laughter. Oberman deserves that response for her bold reimagining of the play.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne