Present Laughter Old Vic Review Andrew Scott Noël Coward NTLive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- The Break A Leggers review Noël Coward’s Present Laughter at the Old Vic in London.
Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott in Noël Coward’s provocative comedy Present Laughter.
As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colourful life is in danger of spiralling out of control. Engulfed by an escalating identity crisis as his many and various relationships compete for his attention, Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching but…
Will it be Break A Leg? Or LEG IT!!
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The Break A Legger Award 2019 nominees:
Penny Dyer - Dialect Coach - The Daughter-in-Law - Arcola Theatre London
Francesca Mills - Best Supporting Actress - The American Clock - The Old Vic, London
Peter Rice - Best Sound Design - Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train - The Young Vic
Oberon K. A. Adjepong - Best Actor in a Play - Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train - The Young Vic
Ukweli Roach - Best Actor in a Play - Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train - The Young Vic
Best Revival of a Play - Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train - The Young Vic
Lucas Rush - Best Supporting Role in a Musical - Rock of Ages - UK Tour 2019
Best Front of House Staff - Almeida Theatre
Lucy Phelps - Best Actress - As You Like It - Royal Shakespeare Company
Sophie Stanton - Best Supporting Actress - The Taming Of The Shrew - Royal Shakespeare Company
John Kani - Best Actor - Kunene and the King - Royal Shakespeare Company
Antony Sher - Best Actor - Kunene and the King - Royal Shakespeare Company
Colin Morgan - Best Supporting Actor - All My Sons - The Old Vic
Nic Farman - Best Lighting Design - Night of the Living Dead Live - Pleasance Theatre
Diego Pitarch - Best Designer - Night of the Living Dead Live - Pleasance Theatre
Alexandra Gilbreath - Best Actress in a play - The Provoked Wife - Royal Shakespeare Company
Jonathan Slinger - Best Actor in a play- The Provoked Wife - Royal Shakespeare Company
Caroline Quentin - Best Actress in a play - The Provoked Wife - Royal Shakespeare Company
Arinzé Kene - Best Supporting Actor - Death Of A Salesman - Young Vic
Robert Jones - Best Designer - Sweet Charity - Donmar
Anne-Marie Duff - Best Actress in a Musical - Sweet Charity - Donmar
Rosalind Eleazar - Best Actress in a Play - The Starry Messenger - Wyndhams
Kenneth Lonergan - Best Play - The Starry Messenger - Wyndhams
Christopher Colquhoun - Best Actor in a Play - One Night In Miami - Nottingham Playhouse
John Hopkins - Best Actor in a Musical - Adrian Mole the Musical - Ambassadors
Andrew Scott - Best Actor in a play - Present Laughter - Old Vic
Sophie Thompson - Best Supporting Actress in a play - Present Laughter
Best Front of House Staff - Old Vic
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Just came back from seeing this with NT live , I haven’t laughed like that in a long time!
I loved the play very much!!👏🏻❤️💕❤️
Wish I could see it again...😥
Go away !!
Same here Maeve, just bought my ticket. I've seen Andrew Scott a few times and I'm eager to see him to comedy.
I think we might’ve seen the same performance. However, our seats were a lot less comfortable and too one-sided in terms of the view we had but there were five of us and we loved it without exception (which hardly ever happens when we go out together).
So yeah I’m definitely gonna tell anyone around me to go see it I LOVE the OLD VIC anyway. Never seen a bad or even mediocre show there..
As for Monsieur Andrew Scott.. Well.. I’m ashamed to say I knew *of* Andrew Scott but hadn’t followed his career and only vaguely remembered seeing him in BLACK MIRROR recently as I hadn’t seen him in any of his better known roles and yes I know I’m probably the only person in the modern world who’s not yet seen a full episode of SHERLOCK whoops 😬
Thanks so much for the review. I enjoy them so much.
Ps: There are two German guys (a couple) on here (TH-cam) who are also *based* in Germany 🇩🇪 and who (as fans of ur work) allegedly were inspired by the way you set up ur channel/videos and so they started their own version a year or two ago, where they visit and review mainly the German-speaking market of Musical Theatre (i.e. Switzerland, Austria & Germany) but there have also been numerous trips to both BROADWAY 🎭 and of course the WEST END (including some of the fringe productions).
But *omg* they’re just #cringe in a tin and I don’t mean that usual type of German cringeworthiness which I’m used to, as during my time at school/university I spent 5+ years living there ( + my mom’s actually *from* Deutschland) so I’m pretty fluent and I dunno.. u should go n have a look it’s hilarious 😉😂
If I find a video of theirs in English I’ll get u a link 🙈
Firstly, thank you so much for stopping by Swede! It's so lovely to know you are there and that you enjoy what we do!
Secondly, what a lovely thing that you and your friends were able to all enjoy the same thing. Theatre is so subjective that it really is a rare treat when everyone has the same, positive experience.
Thirdly, FASCINATING about the German "Leggers". High and low we've searched and can't seem to find them online 😩. If you do have a link, even in German, please share it. We'd be so interested to see what they do. COMPLETELY flattered that they'd be inspired by us, if they are 😁.
Thanks for being a #FellowLegger and do stop by again soon!
S&N
X
The Break A Leggers Sure, here you go:
th-cam.com/channels/6MHNPOc1OEc7gDONipMkoA.html
I’m sure they mentioned you at some point when asked about how it all started 😁
Saw Present Laughter last night...oh dear...perhaps my expectations were set too high (I had just watched the Donald Sinden version from 1981 on TH-cam - now that is a masterpiece of Coward acting and direction). My main problem was that I thought the various pairings had no chemistry or sexual tension. I could not believe for a moment that this Joe would have been married to this Helen, (spoiler alert) that this Morris would have had an affair with this Joe, or that this Garry and this Joe would have been so attracted to each other. You can act many things, but you can't act chemistry. When Garry and Joe kissed there were audible gasps in the audience - I almost wanted to gasp too - not because it was two men kissing - but that it was these two men kissing (had it been Garry and Fred...now that's another matter). Also, the director changed the ending - and not for the better. I have no idea what he meant. Worth seeing for Andrew Scott, but nothing else. Direction OK, nothing special - I don't feel the director got into the Coward mood. Too much 'shouty' acting done so fast I couldn't make out the lines - which is criminal for a Coward play.
I saw this tonight in Chichester. You were right on the money with this review. Amazing performances by all the cast. Sorry I missed love this earlier this year.
I like watching dramas. Is this more of a drama or comedy? I tend to try to see the dramatic side of things even if it is a comedy.
It's a dramatic comedy. You'd enjoy it very much we feel!
Totally agree, this is one of the best things in the West End! Andrew Scott is a complete revelation! As are the entire ensemble!This will go down as the ultimate must-see and people will talk about it for years to come!
Saw this last night and thought it was fantastic... I wasn't so keen on Monica as I thought a few of the 'over landed' lines were a bit too desperate for laughs.. and I kept hearing a Scottish Maggie Smith!!! I would give a shout out to the guy who played the house servant.. Fred ( Josh Hill) loved him... must be a real challenge to share the stage with such a legend (Scott) and most of the cast managed to keep it up there. I thought Andrew Scott had such fantastic delivery and 'range' some beautiful throw away lines.. so well balanced. So many references to the fact that he was 'always acting' and yet real contrast when his character wasn't.. I saw him .. I guess.. at the end of a 2 show day though.. and a was worried that his voice had taken quite a battering.. I was also blissfully happy that the audience didn't applaud on his first entrance!!!
Did a Bond Film... Spectre.... in one scene there are Andrew. Ralph [Voldermort] Fiennes and little Daniel Craig in the same room
Just bought my ticket for a few weeks time after this review! Andrew Scott is something special x
Thank heavens for NT Live. Not every one of them play where I live (Seattle) but most do so I'll be waiting for the schedule of showings...I think I read they'll be in November?
Glad you enjoyed this, having listened to your review and also being a big fan of Noel Cowards "Still Life/Brief Encounter" I went with high expectations. Unfortunately for me it just did not reach the heights of comedy and I found the overacting by Andrew Scott, The Love interests and the Aspiring Playwright as all over the top/implausible and almost slapstick.
Plenty of people did seem to find it amusing and the reviews have been gushing, so I guess it must be me thats the odd one out on this one.
As a Theatre etiquette point it certainly didn't help me having the person next to me guffawing loudly throughout and repeating the line leading up to the laugh to his friend next to him for added effect........ give me 'rustling sweet wrappers' or 'ice rattlers' instead of him any day!
The fellows don't seem to realise that the Sophie Thompson is Emma Thompson's sister. Her mother is indeed Scottish (father was Engish) but she does not normally have a Scottish accent as portrayed in Present Laughter.
Aww, I've missed watching your reviews guys! It's been a while since I have watched, but I must take time to catch up now. I loved your love for Present Laughter! I saw it from the circle since you mentioned you wondered what it was like from there (you know those cheap seats on the front row but behind the bars at the very side of the centre block?) I'm pretty certain Andrew's performance reaches right to the back of the upper circle! He was fantastic. I especially loved the lines he gave double meaning too, and not always obviously. I find him such a left field actor and as you say, so intelligent - the way he has so clearly thought about the meaning and feeling behind every line. You can't really see faces that far back, so I will say any melancholy in the role didn't really reach me. I wasn't moved by the play, but I was definitely amused!
It was SO much fun but for me didn't make me want to buy a stack of Noel Coward plays. I thought the production and performances were amazing and that they made the absolute most of what to me I think in the hands of other creatives I'd have found just a not-that-interesting farce (just my personal taste isn't for that kind of play - you know the he she loved him loves him loves her kind of thin I don't find that interesting personally).
There was extra enjoyment for me as I'd seen Peter Gynt at the National the night before and OH MY (will you see that guys?) I HATED IT (I loved James McArdle in Angels in America, but ooooofffff, I hated Peter Gynt and it was 3.5 hours of hating it. The first half hour I thought ooh I think I'll enjoy this and you know when all of a sudden you realise no.... you're going to hate something and you try to retain hope, even thinking if only I can like the ending, but you just hate it progressively more and more until it's torture big there?) so it was pretty amusing that Present Laughter kept referencing Peer Gynt. I giggled to myself thinking I wished I'd seen Present Laughter first - to WARN me! (Obviously, I get that Gary's self involvement in comparison to the lead in that play was the point of the reference.)
Anyway, watching Peter Gynt had made me think it doesn't matter how great the actors/creatives are if the writing isn't good - you can't made a bad or mediocre play great. For me I was proven wrong the very next day. I didn't find the writing of Present Laughter itself extraordinary (yeah it's clever and witty, but for me not world-changing), but the production was just SUCH utter fun and the absolute best I think this play could be. That was extraordinary to me! Hmm... bit of a long comment! Anyway... (I mean, if you're not booked for Petter Gynt, I don't recommend it... though I would be interested to hear your thoughts on it, so!)
Love this!!!
You just made me regret picking 'Starry Messenger' for our Saturday matinee this weekend! 😘
You guys are on fire in this review. I think Andrew Scott is your inspiration. Great presentation as usual. Thoughtful and delightful!
I could do with seeing a really funny play.
I know this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't get the whole Andrew Scott hoopla. He is an ok actor, but I am not crazy about him. I thought his Hamlet was just alright. Well sort of, I actually thought it was a bit dull and poorly spoken.
I have a colleague who goes all googly eyed at the mere mention of him and when they discuss their impending trip to see this show, they go from 1 to a 100 in a nano second. It is a like a rolled into one person Pride Parade.
Seeing this on Saturday. So hopefully, my Scott aversion will cease then. Possibly, maybe.