Present Laughter

I saw this Noel Coward play at the National Theatre, and as you would expect from this company the acting was superb. I'm guessing that any Noel Coward play is tricky to perform but this piece is much wordier than most of Noel's works. The central character - Gary is on stage for virtually the whole play, and outstanding he certainly was. I hadn't seen 'Present Laughter' before, and I must admit I had it confused with another play, and this distracted me for the first half hour or so. Coward is very good on human emotions, and teeters on the boundary between insightfulness and downright cattiness. The comedy in 'Present Laughter' can only be described as brittle, although in the final act it turns into fairly standard French farce. The plot is probably fairly irrelevant. Gary is a just turned 40 star of stage and film and the devotion of his doting fans and friends is in turn flattering and annoying. In the days before a tour of Africa he has a succession of girls throwing themselves at him, and he needs the protection and advice of his staff (a wonderful secretary, valet and housekeeper) and his separated wife, to prevent him from letting his life go rapidly downhill into total decadency. Coward is so clever with his script and he does allow some truths to seep through the lightness of touch. I'm glad Mr Coward has come back into favour, and hope more of his plays will appear in the West End. Rating 8/10