Coward’s slight masterpiece

The critics seemed to have a sense of humour failure when Present Laughter opened. They sniffily described Noël Coward’s comedy as
three hours of torture. Charles Spencer in the Telegraph called it "repellent" and "clunking". "Why is the National bothering with such bog-standard MOR fare?" demanded Christopher Hart in The Sunday Times.

I almost didn’t go. But thank God, I did. The production — one of the frothiest, most entertaining nights of the year — runs until 24
January. There are plenty of seats (the killjoys saw to that), so don’t miss it.

Yes Howard Davies’s production is unapologetically camp. But it’s incredibly poignant. This is a play for grown-ups. As fading matinee idol Garry Essendine, Alex Jennings conveys the full, shaming reality of being 40 and still going out to the opening of an envelope.

Every morning he wakes up to find yet another gorgeous debutante in his flat — parading around
in his dressing gown. But pretty soon we intuit that Garry (like his creator) might not be quite as red-blooded as everybody thinks. Playing the cad might in fact be a rather clever disguise.

Davies’s revisionist gay subtext works incredibly
well: conveying a beautiful set whose lives will be thrown into disarray by the Second World War.
The critics’ principal complaint is that Essendine is not an attractive character. But sacred monsters are the lifeblood of theatre. Jennings, who is on stage for nearly every second, gives a bravura performance.

Bitchy, glamorous, world-weary, he slowly reveals a man who quite frankly could live without sex — with either men or women. He is brilliantly supported by Sarah Woodward, playing his no-nonsense secretary, Monica (rescued from spinster hell with an aunt). And look out for Lisa Dillon (demure Mary Smith in Cranford)
as a vamp.

It’s slight, but never superficial. Personally I’d pay the ticket price for Tim Hatley’s Vorticist set alone.

And how can you not love a play with the lines: "Surely you haven’t reached the age of 43 without knowing how to give a few words of
encouragement to a troop of Boy Scouts?"

Present Laughter
National Theatre: Lyttelton
South Bank, SE1 9PX