Present Laughter

by Noel Coward

seen at the Old Vic on 31 July 2019

Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott as Garry Essendine with Indira Varma as his estranged wife Liz and Sophie Thompson as his personal assistant Monica, with others supporting, in this revival (designed by Rob Howell) of Noel Coward's skewering comedy about theatrical celebrity first seen in the 1940s.

The set, in bright pastels, looks like a demented cross between a swank flat (where it is supposed to be) and an art deco cinema or theatre foyer, emphasising the fact that Garry Essendine lives on his celebrity status. Five entrances allow for a truly farcical set-up as people emerge from or are hidden in various rooms of the flat, or arrive at its front door, as the plot requires; but, typical of Coward, it is all very knowing, and one character complains (over the telephone) of being in a French farce. This calling the audience's attention to the mechanics of what they are witnessing is  high-risk strategy, but Noel Coward, at the peak of his powers, can pull it off, providing the cast rises to the occasion. This cast does, in splendid form.

Hay Fever

by Noel Coward

seen at the Duke of York's Theatre on 13 May 2015

This revival of a famous farce from 1925 is not entirely successful; its main claim to attention is Felicity Kendal, who plays the matriarch Judith Bliss. Judith's super-dramatic style as a recently not-so-retired theatre doyenne controls the behaviour of her husband and two children and leads to the general mayhem that farce feeds on. Kendal's performance is flawlessly timed and full of the necessary mannerisms and abrupt changes of register, but the remaining cast are not so adept at the form, and there is too much shouting and too little subtlety.

The play itself shows its age, and some of its comic references are now irretrievably dated and consequently no longer funny. The first act in particular lacked energy, though the ludicrous goings-on in the second act raised the level considerably.

I wonder if perhaps the streak of narcissistic cruelty that features in several of Coward's plays as leavening for the comedy (for example 'Design for Living' and 'Private Lives') is weaker here, or if it was just not allowed sufficient head in this production.