PRESENT LAUGHTER by Noël Coward
Venue: Vaudeville 1981
Directed by
Alan Strachan
Cast in order of
appearance
Daphne Stillington |
Belinda Lang |
Miss Erikson |
Sheila Mitchell |
Fred |
Colin Spaull |
Monica Reed |
Gwen Watford |
Garry Essendine |
Donald Sinden |
Liz Essendine |
Dinah Sheridan |
Roland Maule |
Julian Fellowes |
Henry Lyppiatt |
Michael Fleming |
Morris Dixon |
Ian Gardner |
Joanna Lyppiatt |
Elizabeth Counsell |
Lady Saltburn |
Jill Johnson |
Review
Present
Laughter more than lives up to the second word
of its title, even if its values and situations are all
of the past. What it confirms, however is that Coward
has now earned the right to be placed alongside
Congreve, Farquhar, Sheridan and Pinero as a chronicler
of his time, even if, like them, he is inclined to dwell
on the high society end of the spectrum.
Present Laughter
is, of course, about an actor, allegedly based, to a
certain extent on Coward himself, but he is still a high
society type of figure, most masterfully played on this
occasion by Donald Sinden with the air of exaggeration
that comes so naturally to him. Gary
Essendine may be the very essence of pre-war actorly
behaviour, with his tantrums and selfishness, but he is
nonetheless real and the combined skills of author and
actor make him acceptable as a vulnerable egotist,
victim of pressures which a number of unfortunate people
would love to have the opportunity of withstanding.
Under Alan Strachan’s direction and blessed with a
fine setting by Peter Rice, the rest of the cast play up
well to Sinden’s lead – Dinah Sheridan as the wife who
lives in a state of loving estrangement, Gwen Watford as
the almost pathetically faithful secretary, Polly Adams
bent on conquest and hating defeat as Joanna, Belinda
Lang as the adoring Daphne and Julian Fellowes getting
well beneath the rhinoceros thick skin of Roland Maul.
*
* * * *
"Sparkling transfer from Greenwich" - Time Out