Laughing at Present Laughter at Walterdale Theatre

Last night I took in the Noël Coward play, Present Laughter, at Walterdale Theatre. I'm pleased to say that it produced much in the way of present laughter. For those of you who love Coward's plays, you will absolutely adore this production. I'm not usually a fan of his, so I was quite delighted that many of the things I don't enjoy were not there, and that it focused on things that I did enjoy. What a weird way of saying that I liked it, huh? 

Anyhow, this is a fun show and I loved the momentum that built from the first to the second and culminated in the third act. Director John Anderson did an excellent job building the pace and creating the world for this wacky crew. The third act is a lot of ridiculous chaos! Note: there is only one intermission as the company has wisely split the action in the middle of the second act in a place that totally works. At the centre of the show is Garry Essendine (Randy Brososky) who is his time's most famous actor. As such, he is stalked by super fans and many young attractive women (and men) who want to be with him. He does not object and has many flirtations and dalliances which previously lead to an estrangement from his wife Liz (Angela James-Findlay). Things come to a head when one of these affairs strike a little too close to home. Garry has a team that protects him and who his work provides for, and this is the real marriage of his life. Maintaining that means that lines need to be drawn. 

I was thinking that it would be interesting to see this re-written in the modern age as the age of digital stalking and public ownership of our superstar actors and celebrities was certainly paralleled by Garry's hi-jinks. I think it would be a little darker if set today, however, and might not have the farcical elements that we see onstage in this production. 

The cast is well suited to their roles and they embraced the craziness of Garry's world. I absolutely loved the contrast of the sane and stoic wife Liz and much put-upon personal secretary Monica (Donna Call) with the more outrageous fans like the overly-romantic Daphne (Stephanie Swensrude) and entirely kooky Roland (Andréus Wallace). I cannot decide if my favourite moment was Roland's crawl over the couch or Daphne's over-the-top audition. I did chuckle at so many of Monica's dry asides, Donna Call played her quiet moments so perfectly. There's also a femme fatale, Joanna (Kate Power) who had a fierce barracuda-like energy. At the centre is Garry, and Brososky bounces around from choice to choice like a kid in a candy store, until it all explodes and it has to be shut down. That is very satisfying, I also wanted to mention a new young actor who plays the valet Fred (Drake Seipert) - although the role was not large, he impressed me with every choice he made. I'm really interested to see what he does next. 

Anyhow, I had a great time. I can't really talk about all of it as there should be some surprises, but it was certainly a lot of fun!

Present Laughter runs to December 13th at Walterdale Theatre. Tickets start at around $25 plus fees and there is a Pay-What-You-Can Night on Wednesday, December 10th. You can purchase tickets in advance here.