Life can be impossibly challenging, especially when one is a celebrity. With adoring fans who know no boundaries, and friends and staff who make up their own, life is never dull.
Welcome to the chaotic comedic world of Garry Essendine, an actor at the top of his game – who everyone wants a piece of!
‘Present Laughter’ by Noel Coward is a masterpiece in scripts that have stood the test of time. First staged in 1942, this production is as charming as it is action-paced and witty.
Set in the week before Garry (Nicholas Murchie) is off on tour in Africa, his world collides into what can only be described as a farcical, very funny mess. The number of people, plots, subterfugical shenanigans and ironic intrigues is genius, but then this is a play celebrating Coward’s sparkling wit.
What perhaps is more surprising is the bountiful cast of distinctive characters who all add a good dollop of fun to the melee. This isn’t just an egotistical furore about Garry (even if he is the sun around which they all orbit), this is a coming together of a huge range of characters who each make their part their very own.
Daphne (Phoebe-Loveday Raymond) is a joy to watch as the young seducer, Monica (Louise Beresford) is a deft casting of Garry’s street-smart snappy secretary, Fred (Jay Hopping) is a mischievous twinkle-in-his-eye butler, Joanne (Alex Constantinidi) is a fantastic femme fatale, and Roland (Christian Andrews) had me rolling in laughter with his take up of an infatuated fan.
The pace is fast, the drama is big, the stakes are high, and the laughs are large.
The stage design is spot on, and the costumes are so bang on period, you feel you really should be wearing your own velvet dressing gown, or at the very least, have an advance booking for lunch at one of the on-trend restaurants they all so seemingly often frequent.
‘Present Laughter’ may be a complicated psychological funny mess of relations, but it also speaks to deeper undertones of the problem with celebrity, and perhaps life in general. You don’t need to be a celebrity to worry about ageing, nor do you have to be a famous face to worry about your relevance in the modern world.
As daft as it sounds, I can’t help thinking how much I’d love to live in a Noel Coward play. But perhaps that’s the magic of the realism – or maybe it’s the pure escapism most audience members are after.
Present Laughter runs until 9th August at the McGrigor Hall with tickets available at https://fst-odes.co.uk/products/
Reviewer: Samantha Collett
Reviewed: 5th August 2025
North West End UK Rating: