Present Laughter

Present Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 but not produced until 1942 because the Second World War began while it was in rehearsal, and the British theatres closed.

The plot depicts a few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa.

Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry has to deal with women who want to seduce him, placate both his long-suffering secretary and his wife, cope with a crazed young playwright, and overcome his impending mid-life crisis (he has recently turned forty).

[1] One, This Happy Breed, was set in a modest suburban household; the other, originally titled Sweet Sorrow, later Present Laughter, depicted the affairs of a star actor.

[n 1] The plot of Present Laughter had been forming in Coward's mind over the previous three years, but he recalled in his memoirs that once he began writing it, the play was completed in six days.

[6] He planned to appear in both the new plays in the autumn of 1939, and they were in rehearsal for a pre-London tour when the Second World War began on 2 September; all theatres were closed by government order, and the production was shelved.

[7] In 1942 the prime minister, Winston Churchill, told Coward that he would do more good for the war effort by entertaining the troops and the home front: "Go and sing to them when the guns are firing – that's your job!

[12] The repertory of the tour also consisted of This Happy Breed and Blithe Spirit; the three were advertised collectively as "Noel Coward in his Play Parade".

[13] After playing in twenty-two towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales, the tour ended with a six-week run at the Haymarket.

Garry is still asleep, and while waiting for him to wake, Daphne encounters in turn three of his employees: the housekeeper (Miss Erikson), valet (Fred), and secretary (Monica).

Liz Essendine, who left Garry years ago, nevertheless remains part of his tightly-knit 'family' along with Monica and his manager, Morris Dixon, and producer, Henry Lyppiatt.

Liz tells Garry that she suspects that Morris is having an affair with Henry's glamorous wife Joanna, and is concerned that this might break up the family.

Their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Roland Maule, an aspiring young playwright from Uckfield, whose play Garry has rashly agreed to critique.

[31] American successors in the role of Garry Essendine have included Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1975),[n 8] George C. Scott (1982),[n 9] Frank Langella (1996),[n 10] Victor Garber (2010),[n 11] and Kevin Kline (2017).

[36] In September 1996 a new French adaptation, titled Bagatelle was presented at the Théâtre de Paris, starring Michel Sardou in the lead role, now named Jean Delecour.

[30] In September 1956 the BBC broadcast a radio production with John Gielgud as Garry, Nora Swinburne as Liz and Mary Wimbush as Joanna.

"[50] The Manchester Guardian added, "One is tempted to cast discretion to the winds and predict that this will be remembered as the best comedy of its kind and generation ... one of those rare occasions when the critic must claim the privilege of his fellow-playgoers, simply to marvel, admire, and enjoy wholeheartedly.

"[51] When Coward brought the play back to the Haymarket in 1947, The Times praised it as "a wittily impudent and neatly invented burlesque of a French farce.

"[53] In 1993 Ned Sherrin wrote, "Present Laughter is one of Coward's four great comedies of manners, along with Hay Fever, Private Lives and Blithe Spirit.

"[44] Reviewing the 2016 revival starring Samuel West, Lyn Gardner, in The Guardian, found the play "deeply unpleasant ... misogynistic and snobbish".

[28] Reviewing the 2019 Old Vic production, a critic in The Hollywood Reporter noted that "beneath the frantic surface is a subtle depiction of a man trapped by fame and his own image.

[56] The reviewer of The Independent agreed, noting that the leading character's surname, Essendine, is an anagram of "neediness", and commented, "Coward's comedy asks us to wonder: who needs whom most – the sun or the planets that orbit it?