When the curtains goes up on Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, the audience cannot help but to break into applause for David Zinn’s set design. It is the London studio of our main character, Gary Essendine, and it sets up his character for us brilliantly. It is beautiful, charming and larger than life, filled with books upon books and paintings upon paintings. Immediately we have an idea of the sort of evening we are in for.
One by one we are introduced to the cast of characters each with his or her own delightful quirks. When Kevin Kline makes his entrance, there is another burst of a applause from the audience. Of course it is completely expected to applaud a star of a Broadway show and happens all the time. However, in this particular play, it is completely asked for as he sure makes an entrance, arriving at the top of his long staircase in a fury that anyone could have been so inconsiderate as to wake him “from a deep deep sleep by everybody screaming like banshees!”
He has awakened on a day that appears to be very much like most of his days. (That is to say his staff are faced with the challenge of how exactly to control Mr. Essedine’s overwhelming demand for appointments, the telephone and doorbell are always ringing, and they must deal with the new young woman in the spare room; a young woman who will have been told all the same promises and declarations of love the night before, undoubtedly quoted from the theatre, and this morning will learn that those words of love were only words from scripts.)
What is different about today however, is that on this particular day the people that Gary Essendine comes into contact with are not going to take no and goodbye for answers. At first glance these characters appear harmless enough. When Daphne Stillington, played brilliantly by Tedra Millan, leaves Gary’s studio in tears we think he may be safe. She’s wide eyed, beautiful, eager for life and love and very emotional so naturally it would make sense for her to go home, cry her eyes out and then find another person to fall in love with all over again. No such luck. The same goes for Roland Maule, a wanna be playwright who has accidentally been granted an appointment that day, as Mr Essendine answered his phone call, and unfortunately has a problem saying no. Mr Maule, with an unforgettable performance by Bhavesh Patel, is nervous, awkward, brash, rude and has a handshake that might just break your wrist. After being fully insulted by Mr Maule, Mr. Essendine declares “I’m changing my methods and you’re my first experiment.” and he proceeds to tear apart his play and in fact his entire way of life. Sadly for Mr. Essendine, this new method only allows Mr. Maule to fall deeper into his web and under his spell.
We’ve all known those people. The one’s who are so captivating and alluring that the whole world cannot help to fall in love with them. Mr Essendine has been enjoying this kind of attention and admiration for years but all of a sudden it is beginning to become less and less pleasurable. One of the themes of the play begins to be addressed with this idea. What is our responsibility to each other? How long is it sustainable to say whatever it is we need to say to get what we want? Gary may have women and men become obsessed with him every day, and promise them the earth, but when will he realize that these people aren’t simply characters in his play, but individuals with actual emotions, hopes and dreams?
This to me brings up the main theme and question of the play: “Are we all merely acting all of the time?” Gary is certainly accused of it over and over again. The more he hears this statement the more upset and bothered by it he becomes. We meet Gary as an extremely self involved man but funnily enough, the more he is told that he merely exists inside his own play, the more he begins to look outward at the other people in his life. He begins to point out all of their insincerities and how in fact he is not the only one who may be a tad dramatic. Suddenly, as we examine and break down each character’s behavior, we begin to wonder if there is anybody who is in fact truthful.
Gary meets his match in the seduction scene with Joanna, (Cobie Smulders) the beautiful and manipulative wife of his friend (and having an affair with his other friend). Only this time she is the one making the promises of love and devotion, the same promises she has made to her husband Henry (Peter Francis James) and their friend Morris (Reg Rogers). It is this experience that wakes Gary up to just how far things have gone. In conversation to his (ex) wife Liz (Kate Burton) he exclaims “I’m surrounded by lies and intrigue and sickening emotionalism.” Now of course one could say that he and Liz have both been lying to each other for years convincing themselves and each other that they are not still in love. In a brilliant monologue Gary exposes everybody for what they are, “You’re all just as badly behaved as I am really, in many ways a great deal worse.” He goes on to say that Morris gets immense pleasure from his overdramatic suffering. He exposes Henry’s affair and how Joanna was thrilled to learn that fact because it gave her “room to expand” as Joanna is nothing more than a “collector” when it comes to sexual partners.
Earlier in the scene between Mr. Maule and him, My Maule reveals why he has been acting so crazy every time we meet him. “I am always acting too. I have been acting mad with you because it amuses me to see you put on a surprised face”. How often in life do we merely say something to get a response from someone? How often are human beings searching for that shock value, that dramatic affect? Is Coward exposing us all? Are all human beings simply acting all the time and spinning webs, no matter how harmful the result may be to others? In the program Coward is quoted “Then, with sudden desolation, I knew that the destiny of the human race was shaped by neither politicians nor dictators, but by our own inadequacy, superstition, avarice, envy, cruelty, and silliness and that it had no right whatever to demand and expect peace on earth until it had proved itself to be deserving of it.”
When Gary decides to come back to Liz at the end of the play perhaps he is taking a first step toward being deserving of that peace. He certainly has come to a realization that he has no peace in his own life. Not with Daphne in the spare room and Mr. Maule off locked in another and not with everyone who believes themselves to be in love with him, the actor on the stage. Perhaps Coward is attacking the selfish nature of human beings to live conscience free lives completely in the moment with no regard for the future or for their affect on others. Perhaps Gary is finally taking a first step toward taking responsibility for his actions and not solely living in the entertainment of that particular day, the “Present Laughter” if you will.
Of course, aside from there being many issues about human nature to consider, this is also a comedy which was brought out brilliantly under the direction of Moritz Von Stuelpnagel. Every single member of the cast was magnificent, both individually and as part of an ensemble. I think it is safe to say that Kevin Kline was certainly born to play this role. I for one am thrilled that I had the privilege to see this, both for the laughs in the moment and for the thoughts afterward. Let’s face it: though it is certainly not a sustainable way of day to day life, we all need a little present laughter.
Did you see Present Laughter yet? Tickets are available till July 2nd. Can’t make it to theatre? Fear not! BroadwayHD will air this special story at a later date. Find out more on BroadwayHD.com.
Alicia Krakauer, a born and bred New Yorker, is an actress and singer/songwriter. She holds a BFA from Syracuse University, and an MA from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, both in musical theatre. Alicia has played a variety of roles including Bunny Byron in ‘Babes in Arms’, Lilli Vanessi in ‘Kiss Me Kate’, and Lenny in ‘Crimes of the Heart’. She has a huge passion for new writing and is the Co-Founder/Co-Producer of the NEXT concert series both in NY and the UK.