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Present Laughter
Jul. 28th, 2019 06:33 pmWhen I saw Andrew Scott was going to be in another play, I knew I was going to go and see it. I have my usual three days break in London next month and that would have been ideal, except that the play's run closed the Saturday before I was going. So I mentioned the play to SM, who is a huge AS fan, and he suggested we go up for the weekend after term finished.
The play is on at the Old Vic, and I think it's sold out. Present Laughter was written by Noel Coward, and the central character, Garry Essendine, is supposed to be based on Coward himself. The main difference from the original is that one of Garry's lovers is changed from a woman to a man. The play was written in 1939 and first performed in 1942, so this would have been impossible to show at the time, but, given Coward's nature, it's not at all improbable. This production continues to be set in that era, but assumes modern acceptance, without making a point of it.
The whole cast are excellent, I was particularly taken by Sophie Thompson as Monica Reed, Indira Varma as Liz Essendine and Luke Thallon as Roland Maule. That, however, is personal preference and all the roles were very well filled.
Andrew Scott was amazing. He managed to give a character who seems very self-centred, a deeper sense of what he was covering up, and doing his best to ignore. The range of his emotions was excellent and he drew the audience to him, without overshadowing the other characters.
The play was very funny, extremely well-acted and a positive delight from beginning to end. It will be shown in cinemas as part of NTLive on 28 November, and if you enjoy NTLive productions I'd recommend it.
The play is on at the Old Vic, and I think it's sold out. Present Laughter was written by Noel Coward, and the central character, Garry Essendine, is supposed to be based on Coward himself. The main difference from the original is that one of Garry's lovers is changed from a woman to a man. The play was written in 1939 and first performed in 1942, so this would have been impossible to show at the time, but, given Coward's nature, it's not at all improbable. This production continues to be set in that era, but assumes modern acceptance, without making a point of it.
The whole cast are excellent, I was particularly taken by Sophie Thompson as Monica Reed, Indira Varma as Liz Essendine and Luke Thallon as Roland Maule. That, however, is personal preference and all the roles were very well filled.
Andrew Scott was amazing. He managed to give a character who seems very self-centred, a deeper sense of what he was covering up, and doing his best to ignore. The range of his emotions was excellent and he drew the audience to him, without overshadowing the other characters.
The play was very funny, extremely well-acted and a positive delight from beginning to end. It will be shown in cinemas as part of NTLive on 28 November, and if you enjoy NTLive productions I'd recommend it.
