PRESENT LAUGHTER till 27 May
PRESENT LAUGHTER: Noel Coward
Bham Rep till 27 May, then to Richmond Theatre till 3 June
Runs: 2h 40m, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 24 May 2006
Stylish and great fun is had by all
Michael Rudman opts for a comedic approach to this play. There is another approach – that Coward in this play is exploring his own concern’s that he will only be remembered as a lightweight entertainer rather than a serious artist. (This is the very accusation made to the main characters, Essendine, but thrusting new playwright Roland Maule).
So . . . you make a choice and you can’t please everyone. In Rudman’s present production the play is fresh and funny; it’s elegant and the serious side isn’t entirely jettisoned. Nothing too heavy, but enough to set you thinking.
Simon Callow plays Garry Essendine, the famous 51 year old actor who’s surrounded by staff, colleagues and young admirers. In Coward’s sparkling script it’s difficult to work out who is put upon and who is a putter upon.
Coward needs style – and Callow oozes this; Coward is sometimes farcical – Callow leaps through these hoops with gusto. Callow’s magic is that he subsumes these into himself and produces a highly energised character as natural as someone you might meet in a station waiting room. (Well, perhaps first-class airport departure lounge might be more accurate.) He is by turn arrogantly suave then browbeaten and hang-dog. It is both highly intellectual and highly physical, spinning us till we are dizzy and delighted.
This is a very strong cast indeed. Tilly Tremayne creates Monica Reed, Essendine’s long-suffering secretary. Less showy than those around her Miss Reed can certainly hold her own. With consummate talent, Tremayne turns Reed’s ultra-English understatements into deadly weapons of character destruction.
I also specially liked Jessica Turner’s so-elegant Liz Essendine, the cucumber-cool estranged wife, and Robin Pearce’s Roland Maule, the manic young playwright who’s a terrifying as he is funny.
A word must be said for Designer Paul Farnsworth. His version of Essendine’s Studio Flat is a vast white stage set, a set peopled with characters whose outfits are tailored with a quality most of us can only dream of. Michael Rudman directs – he gives the play great pace and creates a production that suits both young and not-so-young.
Daphne Stillington: Marianne Oldham
Miss Erikson: Victoria Lannox
Fred: Richard Hollis
Monica Reed: Tilly Tremayne
Garry Essendine: Simon Callow
Liz Essendine: Jessica Turner
Roland Maule: Robin Pearce
Henry Lyppiatt: Nigel Hastings
Morris Dixon: Richard Atlee
Joanna Lyppiatt: Lysett Anthony
Lady Saltburn: Virginia Denham
Director: Michael Rudman
Designer: Paul Farnsworth
Lighting Designer: Gerry Jenkinson
Sound Designer: Colin Pink
2006-05-24 19:27:58