Noël Coward’s quick and satirical comedy Present Laughter follows Gary Essendine, a 40-year-old arrogant star, as he faces an upcoming trip to Africa whilst dealing with admirers, his ex-wife and secretary. It has been performed by numerous acting groups and performed at the National Theatre.
We were fortunate to be gifted tickets to watch it – here’s our review!
The brilliant actors from the Exeter University Theatre Company did an outstanding job at embodying these characters, committed to maintaining their quirks and mannerism at all times. They managed to seamlessly keep up the 1939 accents throughout a two hour long play with Clementine Wilson’s particularly impressing us. The play delivered humour, joy and some serious heartfelt moments all executed believably and emotionally by the actors. The comedic timing was brilliant and displayed by all actors.
The actors had evident chemistry allowing the characters to seem like real friends, particularly the quick back and forth between Isabelle Maunder and Seb Tapp was a highlight. Sasha Hawksworth and Tapp’s relationship was delivered perfectly reflecting their dependence on one another.
Seb Tapp commanded the stage and used space to demonstrate the self-centeredness of his character. Sasha Hawksworth was a particular stand out to me she played off the other actors brilliantly and captured the multifaceted layers of her character providing humour throughout. Alex Webb cleverly and consistently used his posture and spacing to create numerous humours moments.
There was a good use of props to create various amounts of amusing moments, particularly from Sophie Campbell and the set design was excellent with a clear stand out from the portrait of the character ‘Garry Essendine’ which was lit up to represent the arrogance of Garry.
The lavish and over the top set clearly showed that it was set in 1939 with a huge piano, chandeliers, an old phone and two mirrors on either side of the room. The set also clearly shows the main character’s personality and attitude to the world as his entitlement can be seen in the set design. The lighting and music also helped create a feeling that we went back to the 1900s, with the use of live music through piano playing added a layer of authenticity. The costumes perfectly capture the beauty of the period with exquisite dresses and suits which helps enhance the nature of the characters. The elegant, well-designed costumes and pin-curled hair and transported you back to the 1930s allowing you to be fully immersed in the play.
Despite the humour being from the last centuries the cast performs it very well resulting in constant laughter from the audience. We were all constantly engaged in the play and excited for what was next. Present Laughter is a hilarious play which is a combination of emotions and light-hearted humour.