10 Noël Coward Present Laughter

SANWAL

(4.6 stars; 5 reviews)

10 Noël Coward Present Laughter The Monday Play: Mon 23rd Dec 1974, 20:00 on BBC Radio 4 FM Adapted and produced by Ian Cotterell with Paul Scofield and Fenella Fielding, Patricia Routledge, Joy Parker and David Timson. 'Every play you appear in is exactly the same. You have a great following and a strong personality, and all you do with your talent is wear dressing-gowns and make witty remarks!' One of his finest and funniest comedies, Noel Coward admitted that he wrote the role of egotistical charmer Garry Essendine as a vehicle for his own talent. Set in the glamorous world of the theatre during the jazz age, Present Laughter is a marvellously comic exaggeration of the life that whirled around Coward in his heyday. Flamboyantly dressing gowned, and devastatingly handsome, Garry Essendine may be teetering reluctantly towards middle age but everyone, both male and female, is infatuated by him. The master of scalpel sharp repartee, ruthless put downs and spectacular tantrums, his life is one long performance in which he can never be himself. About to set off on an extended tour of Africa, Essendine is visited by practically everyone he knows including his ex wife/manager, lawyer, secretary, butler, business partners, and admiring young playwright and a recent one night stand! The stage is set for a battle of glittering egos. Daphne Stillington: Miriam Margolyes Miss Erikson: Diana Olsson Fred: Timothy Bateson Monica Reed: Patricia Routledge Garry Essendine: Paul Scofield Liz Essendine: Joy Parker Roland Maule: David Timson Henry Lyppiatt: Alan Rowe Morris Dixon: Vernon Joyner Joanna Lyppiatt: Fenella Fielding Lady Saltburn: Betty Huntley-Wright

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.